Balance of Power
by ladeesarah001
Summary: ON HAITUS - Some among the vampire community have become tired of the Volturi and wish to return the world to the way it was... the balance of power is about to permanently shift. Full summary inside - AU - Canon pairings - Edward and the Cullens.
1. Prologue

**BALANCE OF POWER**

Author: ladeesarah001  
Betas: Julie and Melissa from Project Team Beta  
Category: Twilight  
Rating: M (mature themes)  
Published: June 3, 2009  
Completed: No  
Setting: Pre-Twilight / Twilight-AU  
Characters: Alice, Carlisle, Edward, Emmett, Esme, Jasper, original characters, Rosalie

Notes: Canon is mostly observed

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**Full Summary**

Since the fall of the Romanian Empire over 2,500 years ago, the Volturi have ruled the vampire world with next to no opposition. During this time, their power has swelled and the three brothers who lead the Volturi have become consumed by greed, increasingly digressing from their professed mission to keep vampires and the secret of their existence safe. Some among the vampire community have become tired of the Volturi and wish to return the world to the way it was... the balance of power is about to permanently shift.

Think **Twilight**, **Eclipse**, and **Breaking Dawn** with a twist. I've taken key plot elements from those books, strung them together with some minor changes, and added a threat against the Volturi to lurk behind the scenes. All of that twists and turns its way to the introduction of my original characters and a showdown with the Volturi.

Look out for: a totally creepy James, a delve into Edward's rebellious phase, a revelation about Alice's past, and a tiny dip into the subconscious of Esme the battered wife.

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Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

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**Prologue**

The island was a well known sanctuary for them. A large group resided here permanently while the rest came and went at their leisure. No mortal had set foot on this island in millennia, it had been so long that some weren't convinced that a mortal had _ever_ visited their island sanctuary. Many myths surrounded the island, or rather the area where the island was located. The humans called it the Bermuda Triangle. But they weren't the only ones to avoid the area. The triangle also had quite a reputation among immortals. No immortal had bothered to name it but they knew quite well that any and all trespassers never returned. The simple fact that no one, mortal or immortal, ventured near the island made it the perfect sanctuary and meeting place for them.

It had been millennia since they had all gathered together like this; and it was the same _problem_ that brought them together once more. For years beyond count, the problem of _the others_ had been virtually ignored, but a few millennia ago some order emerged from the chaos. Finally the situation didn't appear to be quite so hopeless. The leadership was approached; their shared history explained. While they expressed no interest in returning to the fold – they were too weak – the guarantees exacted held promise for a better future.

This first group of immortals ruled for countless centuries while they continued to remain hidden away on their island sanctuary. But the winds changed and after a great battle they were usurped and another group took power. Again, an approach was made and the same guarantees were exacted; then once again they retreated back to the sanctuary of their island.

No action was taken for many years. Indeed this new group must have thought that they were forgotten. They had not been. Today everyone was gathered in the great library of the island mansion, not through happenstance, but by summons. Promises had been broken, and intentions had been twisted; there would be consequences to pay.

The exact nature of those consequences was up for debate. They were non-violent by nature, but peaceful overtures had failed them in the past. Those voicing opinions were as different as they were varied. They had come from different cultures; from different parts of the world; from different eras. Their appearances were just as varied but they were all bound together by one common trait and now by a common grievance.

No one took heed of the amount of time the discussions and arguments raged on for. What need has a vampire to take notice of the passage of time? But eventually an accord was reached and a message drafted.

_All those years ago you were approached and you were warned._

_All was explained._

_You made promises that you have broken._

_The power garnered in your self-appointed positions is being abused._

_You have kept our true history concealed._

_You were warned._

_For this, you will be destroyed._

The message was nothing short of melodramatic and it was the product of many compromises. But the fierce debate surrounding its wording only emphasised how important they felt the warning was. It signalled the end. The message was transcribed in both Latin and the simple language that seemed to be invading every corner of the globe in this age. A sheet of the highest quality paper available, now bearing the message, was placed inside a matching envelope. This envelope and its contents were then delivered to Volterra, to the Volturi.

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**A/N: **The Island Sanctuary is located 517mi/829km east of Miami. I'm fairly sure there's nothing really there.

03-June-2009  
09-July-2009 – beta'd


	2. 01 x Don't Forget to Smile

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

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**Chapter one: ****Don't Forget to Smile**

Edward's POV

I sighed heavily before hitting a button on the small silver remote. Immediately the quiet jazz track stopped and I was left sitting in silence, relatively speaking, I of course, could still hear everything. I could hear my father Carlisle shuffling papers in his study and my sisters Rosalie and Alice rummaging through their closets to select the perfect outfit. Their husbands - my brothers - were in the living room playing a video game and my mother Esme was humming to herself as she entered her studio.

Of course that was not all that I could hear. Sifting through paperwork in his study, Carlisle was comparing the pros and cons of two different regimens of medicine for one of his patients. Alice was planning a shopping trip to Seattle because naturally having even _more_ clothes would make choosing the perfect ensemble that much easier. Meanwhile Rosalie had just caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and was admiring her own perfection. Downstairs, Emmett was focused on his game or rather how much he was going to gloat when he won Jasper, ever the military strategist, was analysing Emmett's every move in the game trying to spot a pattern and subsequently an opening to attack. Esme's gentle thoughts were focused on the beautiful if somewhat overcast day developing outside.

I never had any peace. The ability to hear _everything_ within a mile radius with such clarity that it appeared as though it were carefully directed to my ears was as much a curse as it was a blessing. There is nothing quite like hearing every movement of the three perfectly matched couples one lives with. But unlike the others of my kind, I also had the dubious pleasure of being able to hear the thoughts of those around me as clearly as their spoken words. And there is nothing quite like hearing the thoughts of the three couples that one lives with.

To be fair, most of the time my family tried to be sensitive to my _gift_ but this only made me resent them even more as they highlighted once again how I was different from the rest of my family. Then of course there were the times when they weren't quite so understanding, although this was usually just the times when Rosalie was sick of my extra sense. We'd had numerous arguments about it. _'Can't you just turn it off?'_ No, believe me I've tried. Not that she believed me of course. I'd contemplated telling her that it didn't really matter since she rarely thought anything overly personal. I certainly didn't consider analysing ones own perfection to be personal, but that definitely would not have gone down well. Still, I tried my best to tune my family out and not trespass the privacy of their minds.

The purposeful movements of my siblings and a glance at the clock in my room told me that it was time to depart for our first day at Forks High. Our family had moved from Denali, Alaska to Forks, Washington just this week passed. We could only ever stay in the one place for a limited amount of time lest the human populace notice that we weren't changing, that we weren't aging. This most recent move, however, was precipitated partially by the fact that twelve vampires living in the one location was drawing too much attention to us and partially by the sheer torture that Tanya's numerous advances were inflicting on me.

The Denali vampires; Carmen and Eleazar, Tanya, Kate and Irina were like our extended family there were precious few vampires who followed our alternate lifestyle. Despite Tanya I had enjoyed living in Denali, it had been a pleasant break in the routine, and it had been nice to just be ourselves for a time. Rosalie, on the other hand, wasn't so happy with our move. She loved Forks. But she was annoyed that I hadn't taken Tanya as my mate so that I would stop sulking around the house. Her selfishness never ceased to amaze me; I had no interest in Tanya. She was just a friend, and was sometimes relegated to even less than that when her advances became too persistent.

We had not lived in Forks for decades, it was important that we not return to a place before all the humans who may remember us had moved on. The Olympic Peninsula was one of the family's favourite places to live. It was one of the rainiest places in the US and consequently had very few sunny days. The Forks weather was ideal for vampires and as Rosalie constantly reminded us it almost made her feel human.

The last week or so had been spent fixing up and renovating our Forks home. It was a more drawn out process than usual because Alice's room needed major modifications. This was becoming a common pattern; each house we returned to had to have an enormous walk in wardrobe attached to satisfy Alice's needs. For most houses this only required some minor remodelling but for the most part once Alice and Esme got started the whole house was usually refitted. The white mansion was a new home so it required a complete refit to meet our needs.

Esme insisted on keeping the façade of the house intact. Alice, Rosalie and Esme all adored the wrap-around porch so Emmett had been dispatched to match the timber exactly to replace the few boards that had rotted with age. Jasper and I had the unenviable task of repainting the outside of the house in white. Alice had somehow convinced us that it had to keep its faded look despite the new coat of paint.

The attention to original features on the exterior of the house was in stark contrast to the interior, which was practically gutted. Most of the first floor walls were removed to create a large open area, which was flooded with light once we had replaced the entire southern wall of the house with glass. The second and third floors comprised private studies, bedrooms, bathrooms and some very extravagant walk in wardrobes; of which Alice's was the most impressive. Esme had also been kind enough to create room for my Bösendorfer downstairs.

I glanced at my piano whistfully as I made my way to the garage and fished my keys out of my pocket. I was greeted with a fresh wave of my siblings' thoughts.

'_Why so glum?'_ came Emmett's far too cheery thoughts, but I decided to ignore him as I slid into my silver Volvo.

The rest of my family followed my example and we were soon driving smoothly down the driveway heading towards the main road and Forks High. As usual I said little and did my best to tune out my family's chatter both mental and verbal.

'_I wish I could drive my baby,'_ Rosalie was once again basking in her own vanity as she envisioned herself sliding elegantly from the driver's seat of her red BMW convertible. She cut a striking figure amongst the cacophony of second and even third hand vehicles that filled her imaginary student lot at Forks High. Alice was visibly vibrating in her seat with excitement as Jasper tried to keep her emotions under control. Even with the help of his gift to influence emotions he was failing miserably.

It had been a couple of years since the family had lived among humans; we did not create that facade while we were living in Denali, and Alice especially was looking forward to it for some unfathomable reason. To keep up pretences, we had made sure to arrive at the school early today so that we could collect our schedules and wander the school acting a little lost and overwhelmed. As we all gracefully exited the Volvo, Alice's eyes went out of focus for a moment. It was a telltale sign that she was having one of her visions, so I focused in on her mind.

Five vampires walked into a small office and smiled politely at the grey haired receptionist. In response, she proceeded to get extremely flustered and had a great deal of trouble doing anything but gawk at us. Instantly the vision shifted. Now, only Alice entered the office and proceeded to collect schedules for all of us. The receptionist was only mildly dazed, and was left looking far less like she would suffer from heart failure; unlike in the previous vision.

'_You explain,'_ Alice thought as she danced off to the office to collect our schedules… Leaving, as usual, the rest of our family staring after her in confusion.

"What was that?" grumbled Rosalie.

"What did she see?" asked a worried Jasper.

I smirked to myself and proceeded to explain that Alice had seen the receptionist practically have a heart attack when the five of us waltzed into her office. However, she looked far healthier when only Alice went to collect our schedules. A moment after I finished the explanation Alice reappeared with our schedules and slips for our teachers to sign. We promptly began to compare them and work out which classes we had together; at that moment we almost looked human. I had five classes by myself, Alice and I were in the same gym class – that was going to be painful – and I had Spanish with Emmett.

Other students began to pull into the student lot and my mind was bombarded with new thoughts. As the resident mind reader it was my job to scan the thoughts of the humans around us to make sure they were buying the charade.

'_Wow, she's hot… blonde.'_

'_Cop a look at his muscles.'_

'_New… blonde… muscles… ass…'_

'_Maybe she'll need help with her calculus?'_

Nothing seemed overly unusual so I tuned the voices out before the truly vulgar thoughts started. I would check again during lunch period. Maybe then, the inevitable portion of the student population who couldn't even compose their thoughts into coherency will have a better handle on the situation.

I turned on my heel and walked at a painfully slow pace away from my family – or at a brisk walk for the benefit of any human observers – and headed towards my first class. Locating it with ease, I hovered by the doorway waiting for the teacher and the other students to arrive. Soon I had to retreat into the classroom to wait as the obscene thoughts of the girls passing me in the hallway started to make me nauseous. I was glad that I couldn't blush today; some of the thoughts made Tanya's advances seem positively innocent and angelic.

When the teacher finally arrived, I got my slip signed and was directed to a seat at the back of the classroom. One would think that this would make staring difficult but none of the class appeared to find my position any hindrance.

"One of Dr. Cullen's kids…"

"I heard they're all, like, adopted or something."

"Did you see the _big_ one… or the _blonde_ one?"

"Yeah, they looked kind of together."

"Is that even legal?"

"I guess… if they're adopted…"

"Well, they're all gorgeous. Is Dr. Cullen like a plastic surgeon?"

The speed that gossip travelled in Forks was impressive but that was about as much as I could handle. I tried to focus on the teacher's pitiful lesson instead but it barely held my focus. English was one of the few subjects that had the potential to not be a monotonous hell but this teacher was particularly uncreative and the class promised to be painful. Pulling out a sheet of loose leaf paper I began meticulously taking notes in an effort to drown out the thoughts around me. Now that the class had started, the conversations had died down but that only made the class' internal chatter increase and become that much harder to tune out.

Alice's POV

I don't know why Edward was always so negative. Playing human is fun, maybe I could even make friends with one in a joint project or whatever? Although he's right about gym, having to move that slowly and pretend to trip over and fumble the ball is just plain annoying! As the bell rang for lunch I scooped my books up quickly and skipped out of the classroom and around that blonde haired boy, Mike. I'd seen him asking me out in a vision the second he'd made the decision. Avoidance seemed like an excellent strategy so I made my way to the cafeteria.

Skipping down the line I placed an assortment of food on my tray. Not too much mind apparently human girls tried not to eat too much and secured a table in the corner of the cafeteria for my family. It was strategically placed; Jazz would be proud. Emmett and Rosalie arrived next; they must have had class together. Rosalie put too much food on her tray. The bitchy comments about that are going to be fun. Emmett proceeded to not put enough on his tray. What are they thinking? Or not thinking…

As another vision came to me. I picked a bread roll to pieces in an effort to ensure that I didn't become too still while the vision played out in my mind. While I viewed a series of images of a very happy Edward talking and laughing like I'd only ever seen once before I felt the rest of my family sans Edward take their places at the table. I shifted my attention to the _female vampire_ with Edward. She was still blurry and out of focus. Clearly there was still an unmade decision. But there was no doubt in my mind that she would one day become Edward's mate.

Snapping out of my reverie at the sound of Edward joining us at the table, I looked down at my bread roll, which could now only be described as bread crumbs. Glancing up, I was greeted by Edward's glare.

"Edward's mate," he hissed.

'_I don't know what you're talking about,' _I thought back, glad that I was already blocking my thoughts from him.

"When do I get to meet her… or him?" Emmett asked with a grin. Jasper and Rosalie snickered in response to Emmett's antics.

I sighed and gave up as I compared the different outcomes for the future. Edward's tantrum would be lesser if I told him what I knew sooner rather than later.

"I don't know, it's just like last time," I hedged waiting for the future to firm up.

"Last time?" growled Edward.

'_Oops!'_ I thought with a smile on my lips earning another low growl from Edward. Jasper stiffened in the seat next to mine.

"I just see you incredibly happy. I don't know when the vision will take place," I explained directing my words to Edward.

"Ok, well what exactly do you see?" pressed Jasper.

"Well," I hesitated, "I see Edward, happy, but I can't see the _female _vampire he's with." I emphasised the word female for Emmett's benefit while rolling my eyes at him. "Just like last time," I finished.

"What do you mean, _just like last time_," Rosalie snapped.

I sighed. "Well clearly, _once again_," I emphasised the words for Rosalie, "Edward has made a decision that will lead him to her but she is yet to make the corresponding decision that will lead them to each other so I still can't see her clearly."

"Was she blurry in the other vision?" Rosalie pressed.

"No," I sighed, "But last time her back was to me so I couldn't see her face then either."

Before Rosalie could say anything else, Jasper cut her off and asked Edward what the students of Forks High thought of their new classmates. I was thankful for the reprieve and Jasper squeezed my hand knowingly under the table.

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**A/N:** **Please review.** Anonymous reviews welcome.

04-June-2009  
22-June-2009 -- beta'd


	3. 02 x Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

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**Previously…**

A sheet of the highest quality paper available, now bearing the message, was placed inside a matching envelope. This envelope and its contents were then delivered to Volterra, to the Volturi.

**Chapter ****two: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie**

Aro's POV

Meandering along its chaotic path until it simply disappeared, I sat and traced the crack with my eyes. A tiny fissure, a mortal would not notice it. It certainly wasn't something that would threaten the integrity of my tower. But it was a blight on the otherwise perfect stone. The stone in question fit snugly with those surrounding it, time had worn it such that the join was barely visible. I knew every stone in this room; it had been mine for a long time.

What I really needed was something to break the monotony. A vampire to act out or an escalation in the clan wars in the south of the United States. A trial would definitely brighten my outlook for the day. My musings born of nothing more than boredom were interrupted by a knock at the door. I was both annoyed to be interrupted and pleased to have something else, anything else, to lavish with attention.

"Viene," my clear voice broke the silence.

Gianna, one of our human servants, entered the room and handed me an envelope before quickly escaping. She'd been here long enough to not require instructions. After staring at the envelope for a few minutes, I sent for Caius and Marcus. Caius would be furious if I read the letter without him, Marcus on the other hand wouldn't care. But still, appearances were everything. I sighed, Marcus had to be here.

Marcus drifted into the room and took a seat, barely acknowledging my presence, or my summons. It was moments like these when I regretted the death of Didyme, Marcus' wife and mate, my sister. He just hadn't been the same since her death. Shortly after Marcus' arrival Caius stalked into the room. Hopefully he didn't travel here in that fashion, it wasn't behaviour that broadcast a harmonious and united front. Before I could admonish him, Caius was demanding to know why he had been summoned like a common servant. In answer I merely held up the envelope so that he and Marcus could both see it. Caius was immediately silent and Marcus actually almost looked interested.

"What do _they_ want?" spat Caius.

"What does it say?" murmured Marcus. If we were not vampires in possession of a vampire's heightened hearing, Caius and I would not have heard him.

This was just too much fun. "Well that is why I called you here brothers," I said barely able to contain my glee. Caius just glared at me, always so impatient.

"Now, now brother," I chided Caius, "Have some patience."

Picking up my favourite letter opener from my desk, I carefully sliced open the envelope. One could not fault the owner's taste, this stationary was exquisite and of the highest quality. Inside was a single sheet of paper folded in half so that it fit snugly into the envelope. In any other company I would have made a show of extracting the letter and drawing the process out, but I couldn't indulge myself because Caius was already impatient and in a foul mood. Marcus would not care either way.

After I read the contents of the letter aloud, I looked up to gauge the reactions of my brothers. Caius was furious. Marcus had the ghost of a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth and excitement, or was it anticipation, flashed in his eyes for a fraction of a second. Perhaps I imagined it?

Marcus' POV

I was summoned by Aro, no doubt to observe some trifling fancy of his that was of no consequence to me. As I glided from my library, I wondered why Aro bothered. He knew I didn't care. I didn't care about anything anymore. Internally I groaned as I saw Aro brandishing an envelope in his hands as I entered his rooms. Outwardly I showed no emotion.

A minute or so later Caius stalked into the room visibly bristling at being summoned here like a lowly guard member. Aro barely managed to contain his aggravation at Caius' behaviour. There would be another talk about 'maintaining the image' coming soon. But before Aro could begin his lecture, Caius snapped at him.

"What do _they_ want?"

His inflection surprised me; as much as anything surprised me anymore. I didn't react with emotions as strong as surprise anymore. To the outside world I revealed no emotion. Then it clicked; I knew who had sent this letter. But why was Aro so cheerful? Aro was always cheerful; it made me want to retch. Any contact from them was not a cause for cheer; they were dangerous.

What does it say? Aro's and Caius' heads snapped to look in my direction. Had I said that aloud? Apparently, I hadn't heard anything so it must have been spoken very softly. My blank mask of indifference remained as they looked at me questioningly. The casual observer would be able to perceive no emotion within me.

My indifferent attention was momentarily captured by a fountain pen sitting on Aro's desk. The pen itself didn't interest me, but it stirred old memories from a happier time. I wasn't sure if I wanted to remember; it was incredibly painful, but the pen was a very similar green to a dress Didyme once wore. Anyone else may have allowed a grimace to cross their face in response to these thoughts, but only a quiet sigh escaped my lips as I refocused my attention elsewhere.

"Well that is why I called you here brothers," Aro said regaining his composure quickly while Caius glared at him. "Now, now brother, have some patience."

With his grandstanding hopefully finished, Aro unsealed the envelope without so much as a flourish. Caius had severely dampened his mood. Removing a single sheet of paper, Aro proceeded to read the contents aloud. When he was finished, I could barely contain myself. This was serious. My brothers didn't seem to realise how much though as they reacted to the communication with amusement and fury. Aro's amusement however was more directed towards Caius' fury.

They were going to destroy us, this was the only conclusion I could draw from the message's contents. We would die. I would die. I was already dead. Just like my beloved Didyme. I would join her soon. I resisted the urge to touch my hand to my lips as I felt an odd stretching sensation. What was that? Was I smiling? I quickly returned my face to a mask of indifference, hoping that my brothers hadn't noticed.

**------------------------------**

Aro's POV

"Amicos, we have been contacted by a group of vampires with whom we haven't had contact for years," I addressed the assembly of the full guard. "I will read to you their message."

Reaching into my robes I retrieved the envelope. This time I was able to indulge myself with a small flourish. After removing the letter I opened it out, cleared my throat and proceeded to read it aloud to the assembled guard:

_All those years ago you were approached and you were warned._

_All was explained._

_You made promises that you have broken._

_The power garnered in your self-appointed positions is being abused._

_You have kept our true history concealed._

_You were warned._

_For this, you will be destroyed._

When I was done reading, I took a moment to savour the enraged looks and fierce whispering and muttering that had erupted from the guard. This was exactly what Caius and I (and Marcus as well I suppose) had expected. In private, after I'd read the letter, we had discussed its implications. Clearly our old _friends_ were no longer happy with our role as leaders of the vampire world. When we last spoke to them, they didn't seem to care what we did so long as we controlled the vampire population and quelled any threats of exposure. We had done that quite successfully for millennia.

Caius had been incensed the moment I finished reading the last line. But I reminded him that we had changed since those days after our victory over the Romanians. We were now much stronger, our guard was much larger, our guard was much more _talented_, and we commanded the respect of the entire vampire community. After Caius had calmed somewhat we analysed the situation logically. First they accused us of breaking our word. Well, we only made three promises.

The first promise was to control the vampire population and prevent exposure. Well, we certainly hadn't broken that vow. All vampires who did something irresponsible that threatened to expose us were severely dealt with. Less then two centuries ago we had unleashed the entire guard on the newborn infestation in Mexico and the south of the United States. Prior to that we had also had to deal with the immortal children; that was a big mess. Yet all offending parties were no more and the humans remain as oblivious as ever. We didn't discuss this promise for very long because Caius quickly became impatient and snippy.

Second, we promised not to conceal our history. I had been fascinated when they had related our shared history, but on this count our defence wasn't quite so clear. But we certainly hadn't concealed anything. Omitted some aspects? Yes. But concealed? No. However, I'm quite sure we'll be admonished for not actively trying to force all vampires under our rule to attend some kind of vampire history lecture. It's a ridiculous charge. We decided to ignore this one also. But I must admit that Caius' antics in response to this charge were so very amusing. He launched into a long monologue about the impracticality of a vampire university of all things! Marcus said nothing.

Our third promise was to not interfere with any vampires who chose to feed from animals. They had tried to convince us of the merits of this dietary concession, but we held firm and they appeared resigned to us continuing our ways. Disgusting thought, why would one want to deny oneself? Carlisle did. His reasoning seemed more than a little flawed though. But we certainly didn't interfere with Carlisle. No one could deem theological debates as interference could they? Even so, after Carlisle left us all those centuries ago, we'd let him be while he created his family of animal drinkers. No, the charge that we have broken our word is entirely unfounded.

Second they accused us of abusing our power. That accusation was totally outlandish and had absolutely no basis in fact. Quite frankly it was ridiculous. Was the Englishman Lord Acton correct? _Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely_. It mattered not. We, the Volturi, still followed our mission and every vampire who joined our guard had a choice in the matter. Caius' response to this charge was just as forceful and indignant as my own. Marcus said nothing. But I thought I caught him rolling his eyes as I spoke of the guard members' free will. Marcus never did anything. Marcus never reacted to anything. Now I'm starting to see things but that's a concern for another time.

"Do we fight for a just cause?" I asked the guard.

"Facciamo," they answered immediately and in unison.

"Are we ready to die for what is right, even if it may result in the fall of some of our comrades?"

"Siamo."

I smiled. "Amicos, we do not fight today," I explained, "These charges are false and we are sure that these vampires can be made to see reason." Some of the guard looked disappointed, Felix and Jane especially.

"We are not tyrants," I continued. "I'm sure our old friends can be made to see reason. If they cannot, however, then we will not hesitate to defend what we know to be right."

The glee on the guards' faces was clear as day. The prospect of a fight was exciting them and they didn't doubt that this would be a good fight. No doubt Felix was imagining himself as the very imbodiment of destruction as he tore vampires to pieces and the small smile that had crept into Jane's lips left no doubt as to what she was thinking. Anyone who threatened the Volturi was either dense or thought they had an ace up their sleeve. But we were the ones who held all the aces. Over the last centuries we had added some very powerful vampires to our guard. Yes, we held all the aces, and we had some extra ones shoved up our sleeves too.

Later that day Caius sought me out. "Do you think our _friend_ Carlisle has something to do with this abomination?" he spat whilst waving the letter that had offended him so in the air.

I sighed quietly, hoping that Caius would not hear. Caius had been badgering me (and Marcus) about Carlisle's coven for decades now. He was petrified of the coven's size and their talents. So much so that he had started to make me concerned about them also, his penchant for conspiracy was beyond annoying.

"No, Caius. I'm certain that this has nothing to do with Carlisle, surely you remember how adverse to violence he was?" I reasoned.

Simply to placate him I agreed to dispatch a guard member to visit Carlisle. We concluded that it would have to be Demetri. I hadn't had contact with my old friend for centuries and didn't know where he and his coven resided currently. Once Caius' fears were laid to rest, I'd have to make my old friend promise to write more.

**------------------------------**

Carlisle's POV

Settling behind my desk in my private study after a productive shift at the hospital, I allowed the medical files to spill across my desk. Before I could select one and begin filling out the accompanying paperwork, Alice burst through the door. Even with my heightened senses, she surprised me.

"What can I do for you, Alice?" I asked. My moment of surprise was so fleeting that she wouldn't have noticed, instead her excitement was met with only calm. Before she could answer we were joined by a worried looking Edward. "Edward…" I began only to be cut off by Alice.

"The Volturi… Aro… he's sending Demetri," Alice blurted breathlessly.

"They can't find out about Alice," Edward added forcefully, easily slipping into the role of the protective older brother. He had clearly witnessed Alice's vision as she had it.

This was definitely bad. If Aro knew about Alice's ability to see the future, he would undoubtedly want her to join the Volturi. He already knew of Edward's ability and certainly coveted it. Overreacting however would not help anyone.

"When do you see Demetri arriving?" I asked Alice calmly.

"Umm…" Alice said as she scrunched her face up in concentration. "He's not coming anymore?" Her statement became a confused question.

"What? I saw it, I saw your vision, Alice," Edward interjected sounding just as confused as Alice and more than a little frustrated.

"I know," she replied. "I saw Demetri coming to visit Carlisle and now I don't. Aro must have changed his mind."

"What does that mean?" Edward furrowed his brow, directing his question towards me.

"I don't know," I replied honestly, "Alice, try to keep an eye on Aro's decisions in case he changes his mind again." Alice nodded in agreement and left my office with a worried Edward close on her heels. Thankfully the rest of the family was out of the house for this non-event. It would have been stressful to have the whole household react to the news that Demetri was being sent to visit and then discover that he was not.

Alice's visions were behaving strangely lately. Well, to be fair the vampires that were making the decisions that affected her visions were the ones behaving strangely. First, the reappearance of a vision of Edward with a vampire we assumed would become his mate - it was not usual for a vision to disappear only to reappear decades later - and now this disappearing vision of the Volturi paying us a visit. Alice and Edward were both under the impression that this vision would come to fruition in the very near future and it was not like the Volturi to change their minds. Something must have happened that made Aro decide to look me up, however fleetingly. But in the end he decided against it. Maybe I should contact him myself? Hmm… this will take some considering. Is there even a way to contact Aro removing the need for him to visit without eliciting a visit by the Volturi or an invitation for us to visit Italy? Probably not, I resolved to simply hope for the best. There was no way to justify contacting Aro now without exciting his interest.

* * *

**A/N:**Hopefully I've been able to catch your interest with my plot by now. Please leave your thoughts.

09-June-2009  
05-August-2009 – beta'd

**Italian used in this chapter** (possibly/probably incorrectly)

Amicos --- friends  
Facciamo --- we do  
Siamo --- we are  
Viene --- come


	4. 03 x The Great American Past Time

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

"The Volturi… Aro… he's sending Demetri," Alice blurted.

**Chapter ****three: The Great American Past Time**

Esme's POV

Most of my children were gathered in the living room. Alice was curled up in Jasper's lap on the loveseat sketching, while Rosalie and Emmett were seated on the sofa in front of the television. Edward was quietly playing music in his room on the third floor, seeking solitude; he obviously wasn't in a good mood. The seventh and final member of my family, my Carlisle, was shuffling papers in his private study.

Alice's eyes glazed over. "No school today," she announced after a moment.

"Alright!" cheered Emmett with a fist pump. Rosalie just rolled her eyes at her husband's immaturity.

"Hmm…" Alice mused as her eyes glazed over again, "It'll be sunny in Seattle and Olympia too so no shopping this time."

"That's okay, Rosie's going to be busy with me aaallllllllllllllll day," Rosalie didn't even get a chance to respond before Emmett did.

"Emmett!" Edward roared from upstairs. Emmett only grinned in response, earning a slap across the back of his head from Rosalie. "I'm never going to get that image out of my head."

Emmett shrugged and turned back to his video game as the music coming from Edward's room changed tempo and style radically; it was also _much_ louder now. I just shook my head in response to my children's antics.

"It will stay overcast long enough for you to get to the hospital," Alice answered Carlisle's unasked question just as he appeared at the top of the stairs. "Then it will cloud over enough for you to come home at 5:42."

"Thanks, Alice," answered Carlisle, as he appeared at my side and kissed my cheek before disappearing into the garage and leaving in his Mercedes.

**------------------------------**

"Four days, that must be a record," muttered Rosalie as she flipped her magazine to the next page.

Even those of my children who detested attending school were getting sick of the sunny days. They still dreaded having to return to school and classes they had experienced dozens of times over, but the sunny days had limited our movements. Usually during streaks of good weather we all went hunting, but this time we had had to stay close to home because of all the hikers and campers that the sun and nice weather had lured outside.

Melancholy notes started to drift from Edward's piano. At least he's come downstairs I thought, he's been in one of his moods since Alice couldn't or _wouldn't_ tell him anything else about her vision. Her first vision about a mate for Edward had brought the family hope, while her second about a visit from the Volturi had worried us. Carlisle had been visibly tense when Alice had reiterated this most recent vision to the rest of the family, but he was clearly relieved that most of us were out at the time. A sour edge crept into Edward's music so I blocked him from my thoughts by translating one of my crafts catalogues into Aramaic; this earned me a hiss.

Alice had confided her visions about Edward to me a few days earlier. She first had the vision of Edward and this mysterious female vampire in 1962. In the vision both vampires were crystal clear, although Alice couldn't see the female's face. But, similar to the vision about the Volturi's visit, she only saw it once and then it disappeared. She'd thought about it often enough over the years, and had come to the conclusion that the female vampire had made a decision that brought the two of them together. But then the vision disappeared because she changed her mind.

The circumstances leading up to the fulfilment of this new vision were obviously much more complex. I was glad that vampires couldn't get headaches and was beginning to understand the burden that Alice's visions placed her under. Alice thought that the blurriness of her latest vision was because several different decisions needed to be made to make it come true. I would give my right arm for that vision to come true and complete Edward, and my family.

Then last night, she had a third vision. There were vampires in the area. We didn't expect problems though, they'd probably just pass straight by Forks without even bothering us.

"Ooh," cried an excited Alice as she started to bounce up and down in her seat disturbing Jasper, not that he minded. I'd been distracted by my thoughts, but not enough for me to miss seeing Alice's eyes drift out of focus.

Edward's melancholy tune morphed into the most elaborate version of Take Me Out To The Ball Game I'd ever heard. His musical genius never ceased to astound me; he'd turned the simple tune into something that would stun the audience at a recital.

"Why do you have to ruin everything, Edward?" Alice seethed.

"Whatever do you mean?" Edward retorted, sounding truly perplexed by Alice's admonishment.

"I'd like to see you try," chuckled Edward. Ahh, Alice was continuing this argument in her head. "I can't help it if I felt like playing Take Me Out To The Ball Game," Edward continued, still feigning innocence.

"Excellent," shouted Emmett, "We're going to play ball!"

"Really?" asked Edward as he walked into the room, "Do you see a storm coming, Alice?"

Alice huffed and threw a cushion at Edward as she stalked out of the room while the rest of the family, save Jasper, chuckled at her antics.

"Thanks a lot, Edward," Jasper complained, "I'm the one who has to deal with the aftermath."

I smiled at my children. At this moment, they were truly behaving like a family and I was content basking in the company of my family. It was a pity Edward had stopped playing the piano; he hadn't played my favourite in so long… I had barely even completed the thought before the first notes of the song Edward composed decades ago floated into the room. I sighed in contentment.

"Anything for you, mom," Edward's voice momentarily joined the sweet refrains drifting through the room.

**------------------------------**

Edward's POV

Ugh, I hated school but I'd been cooped up in the house so long I actually missed it. Usually a string of sunny days like we'd had would be an extremely unusual and welcome reprieve from the monotony of Forks High, but as luck would have it, the forests were teeming with campers and hikers. As a result, I'd been stuck in the house with Emmett and Rosalie. Curse my vampire hearing and my ability, it was like I was in the room with them! I turned my music up even louder.

I'd listened to a fair portion of my extensive music collection, trying to cover the moans and growls from the bedroom on the floor below when Alice's thoughts floated up to me.

'_Come on__, Edward, it's getting close."_

And then she bounced into my room, Jasper close on her heels. Without knocking. Although it wasn't absolutely necessary since I could hear them coming, but still, common courtesy dictated that you knock before entering a room.

"We're leaving in seventeen minutes," Alice chirped, before darting back out of my room, dragging Jasper with her. He had barely made it to the door.

I rolled my eyes at Alice's enthusiasm. I loved to play baseball; it was after all the great American past time, but Alice's enthusiasm for… everything was just plain ridiculous at times. Soon I was dressed and downstairs waiting for the last of the family to be ready, and seventeen minutes after Alice bounced into my room, we were all running towards the clearing. The family regularly used the clearing to play sports when there was a thunderstorm. We hadn't played for a long time now; a thunderstorm was a key ingredient to create the right circumstances for the family to play sports, baseball especially. We needed the claps of thunder to cover the sound of any collisions between our cold, marble bodies.

It didn't take long for us to arrive at the clearing. Rosalie, Emmett and Esme sat down on an outcropping of rock while Alice and Jasper started to toss the ball to each other. I went to help Carlisle mark out the bases. When everything was set, we split into two teams: Carlisle, Alice and I would play Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper. Esme would referee to keep the numbers even and scold us if we became too boisterous.

Our team fielded first. Emmett stepped up to home plate and swung the bat a few times, rippling his muscles in a failed attempt to intimidate Alice. When Esme gave the word to signal the start of the game Alice's arm swung round in a lighting fast movement, pitching the ball toward an eager Emmett.

"Strike," called Esme as the ball landed in Jasper's waiting hands and Emmett cursed in annoyance, "Mind your language!"

Jasper tossed the ball back to Alice, grinning at Emmett's irritation as Alice wound up to pitch a second time. This time, as Emmett connected with the ball, a deafening crack echoed throughout the clearing and the ball was sent flying deep into the forest. In any other company, this would immediately be considered a home run. Among vampires however… I smirked to myself as I sprinted into the trees after the ball as Emmett began running the bases.

I was maybe two miles away when I caught up with the ball, catching it easily, before turning and sprinting back towards the clearing with a giant grin plastered on my face. Already, I could hear Emmett mentally congratulating himself on his homerun. His celebrations were cut short when I emerged from the trees holding the ball over my head and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Out," Esme called evenly.

Rosalie and Jasper batted after Emmett. They were just as competitive as him but played a more strategic game; Jasper especially. Rosalie deftly hit the ball low along the ground into Carlisle's waiting hands in the left outfield and managed to flit safely to second base before we could do anything about it. When Jasper was up to bat Emmett acted as catcher in his stead. Jasper's well placed ball allowed Rosalie to get home and him to third base before it was Emmett's turn to bat again. We were especially grateful for the thunder when a mistimed ball from Emmett gave Carlisle the opportunity to tag Jasper out. After a less than graceful catch eliminated Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper were left racing towards home. In the end Carlisle proved himself to be marginally faster than Jasper, practically tackling him to the ground to tag him. The resulting thunderous crash causing alarm in both Esme and Alice, despite our virutally indestructible bodies.

Two homeruns, one collision between me and Carlisle, and one between Carlisle and Jasper later and we'd gotten their side out three times and it was our turn to bat. A decent hit allowed me to run to the third base. I grumbled to myself at not being able to hit a homerun; I was so much faster than the rest of the family that it was embarrassing when I couldn't manage one. Emmett's goading, both mental and verbal, paid homage to that fact and earned him a quick reprimand from Esme and a smirk from Rosalie. Alice hit the ball at an unfortunate angle and I wasn't given the opportunity to run to home base despite my formidable speed, but she made it safely to second.

'_Don't glare at me__, Edward. This is perfect,'_ Alice thought as she winked at me.

With both Alice and I occupied on bases, Esme took on the role of catcher. Carlisle stepped to the plate next and after a strike, sent the ball flying so far into the forest even I would have had difficulty fielding it and we all raced around the bases for three runs. Stepping up to bat for a second time, I was distracted by the vision I saw playing out in Alice's thoughts and the ball went sailing past me.

"Strike," Esme called calmly.

Alice and I both snapped our heads to look at Carlisle. "They're heading this way," Alice said simply.

"You said they were travelling towards Portland this morning," Rosalie whined.

"They were," explained Alice, "But they heard us playing and changed direction."

We all turned to Carlisle, looking for instruction, "How many?" he asked.

Alice closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. "Three," she replied with certainty.

"Let's just keep playing," Carlisle directed.

'_No need to make them hunt around for us…'_ he thought.

We continued to play, although most of our enthusiasm was gone. There were seven of us and we could all hold our own in a fight, but we were still uneasy about meeting unfamiliar vampires. Not long later, we all froze again when the first sounds of the vampires' passage met our ears. We all converged to create a united front.

'_What are they thinking?'_ Jasper asked me, the rest of his thoughts all centered on Alice.

"They just want to play some ball," I replied.

All of our eyes snapped to the same section of forest as three vampires emerged from the trees. A female with striking red hair littered with leaves and a blonde haired male dropped back a little to flank a dark haired man. Their clothes were worn from travel and they all moved with a feline, animalistic gait. They were not as refined as our family, but their thoughts were peaceful – they really did just want to join our game.

Carlisle stepped forward to greet them.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay! Finally some drama… sort of. Hopefully the baseball sequence is ok, I haven't played it since I was forced to in P.E. class in high school, and it isn't a particularly popular sport in Australia.

If you've made it this far please leave me a review so I know what you're thinking.

15-June-2009  
13-August-2009 – beta'd


	5. 04 x Twenty Three Tortures

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

All of our eyes snapped onto the same section of forest as three vampires emerged from the trees.

**Chapter ****four: Twenty Three Tortures**

Edward's POV

Carlisle stepped forward to greet the three vampires and introduced us in groups, not drawing attention to individuals.

"My name is Carlisle," he said, "And this is my family Esme, Alice and Rosalie, and Jasper, Emmett and Edward."

The dark haired male took a measured step forward and finished the introductions, "My name is Laurent, and these are James and Victoria. We thought we heard a game."

"You did indeed," replied Carlisle. "Do you plan on staying in the area for long? We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"No, no, we're just passing through," Laurent assured us. "We didn't realise that the territory had been claimed."

"Yes, well, we keep a house nearby if you'd like to clean up after the game," Carlisle was starting to relax some as we all felt Jasper's influence spreading throughout the clearing. _'I assume their thoughts are peaceful since you haven't said or done anything,'_ Carlisle thought pointedly.

I had been paying attention to their thoughts and Carlisle was right, they were peaceful. Laurent was genuinely interested in joining the game; it had been a while since he had played. Victoria's thoughts were harder to decipher as her eyes darted between us and the other male, James. Her thoughts were consumed with ways to escape if the need arose, punctuated only by thoughts of James. James' mind on the other hand was oddly blank and empty. Occasionally, his thoughts would flicker to Victoria; but only when he thought about escape. Their relatively calm thoughts, however, quickly changed to surprise when Carlisle mentioned our home. The surprise showed on Laurent's face while the other two controlled their reactions better.

"Mmm, that would be most appreciated," Laurent replied. In his thoughts, he appraised our refined appearances and catalogued all the ways his own appearance would improve after a shower.

"And we'd also appreciate it if you would refrain from hunting in the area," Carlisle continued. "As I said, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Of course we will not hunt in your territory, we just ate outside of Seattle anyway," Laurent said with a laugh. James and Victoria exchanged a look so quickly that I almost missed it, while their thoughts didn't betray anything.

Just then, Jasper's thoughts broke into my head. I hadn't even been able to hear my family; I had been concentrating so hard on the three vampires. He was worried about how closely James was watching Alice. I wrote it off as his overprotective nature towards her and thought little more of it.

"What is your hunting range?" Laurent asked Carlisle. His thoughts showed me that he truly wanted to avoid provoking us. We significantly outnumbered them and Laurent's caution only served to allow me to relax further.

"The park here and up through the Olympic Ranges," Carlisle ignored the assumption behind the question. In his thoughts, he decided to reserve _that_ conversation until after these vampires had showered and cleaned up.

"Well, as we said, we won't hunt in your territory," Laurent repeated his reassurance. Carlisle's thoughts showed that it placated him, but James and Victoria's reactions to the statement made me uneasy; I would mention it to Carlisle later.

The rest of us had remained silent during this peaceful confrontation, but it was of course broken by Emmett. "So, let's play some ball," he said enthusiastically. His sentiments were similarly echoed by Alice whose eyes were shining with excitement; only the waves of calm that Jasper was still throwing off tempered her reaction.

"Yes, why don't you and Rosalie join Laurent, James and Victoria to form one team?" Carlisle smiled.

"Excellent, we'll field first," Emmett exclaimed jovially. Rosalie, thankfully, managed to keep her disdain for her new team mates from showing; her thoughts were something else, however.

The atmosphere was a little tense, not that Emmett noticed, but the game was enjoyable. Esme joined us this time to make two teams of five. Victoria had a wicked curve ball, and I judged that James and Laurent possessed average strength (for vampires) based on their batting; Jasper's thoughts agreed with my assessment. Everyone's thoughts betrayed that we were all doing the same thing: assessing the potential threat. But our actions in the game betrayed nothing of our thoughts.

As we ran back to the house, I relaxed my concentration and my family's thoughts started to trickle through my filter. Emmett's thoughts were all about the game; his team had won. Jasper's thoughts were still uneasy and focused entirely on Alice. Alice's thoughts were a little off, she wasn't quite herself as she analysed everyone's clothing. Jasper's thoughts flickered back to James for a moment; hopefully his face didn't sport an expression that in any way betrayed the venom in his thoughts. Focusing on James' thoughts, I caught an image of Alice through his eyes, while their tenor became oddly possessive. This worried me.

I decided to mention it to Alice and Jasper when we got back to the house. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice place her hand on Jasper's arm, allowing him to guide her path as she focused on a vision. Tuning into her thoughts, I saw her having a vision of me telling her and Jasper about James. Jasper's reaction wasn't pretty. I quickly decided to get Alice alone and the vision shifted.

'_Thankyou,' _Alice thought, she was relieved I had decided not to tell Jasper, _'They won't stay long. They'll shower, change their clothes and then leave.'_ I moved my head up then down infinitesimally in reply, Alice would understand my response.

When we arrived back at the house, James and Victoria went to shower as Esme found them some new clothes, and Laurent stayed with the rest of my family, conversing with Carlisle. The more they talked, the more uneasy Jasper became. Jasper's unease didn't make sense to me; Laurent's thoughts were surprised but peaceful as Carlisle talked about our alternate lifestyle. _'He's not the leader!'_ Jasper's thoughts screamed at me. What? I immediately refocused myself on the thoughts of the three vampires. He was right. Now I was looking for it, it was clear that James was the leader. Listening in to his thoughts, I overheard a snippet of a conversation between him and Victoria – they were not pleased with Laurent's traitorous behaviour.

I shifted and leaned against the wall near where Alice and Jasper were sitting when James and Victoria re-emerged. Alice was now effectively flanked by the two of us. Jasper mentally thanked me; I guess I had not been as subtle as I thought. I gave Jasper a tight smile in response, hoping not to alert Alice, as I realised that I must be emitting some sort of protective vibe that tipped Jasper off.

James' thoughts were now even more worrying as he cast Alice another look. It made me even more anxious as I tensed slightly. This time Alice noticed. _'Don't worry, they'll leave in 6 minutes and 12 seconds,'_ she assured me. When I relaxed a little in response, Jasper noticed and did the same.

Five minutes later and Carlisle, Laurent, James and Victoria were at the door exchanging goodbyes. Victoria was still a little antsy as Laurent thanked Carlisle for his hospitality. Another minute and 12 seconds later and they were out the door just as Alice prophesised, hopefully never to return.

After Laurent, James and Victoria's departure, we quickly slipped back into our usual routine. Esme started to scout around for a house to renovate – the whole family had encouraged her to start a business at one time or another to occupy her time and talents – and Carlisle continued to work at the hospital while the rest of us attended school.

**------------------------------**

It was nearly a month into the second semester when Alice bounced into my room, particularly chipper, with a small but evil smile plastered across her face. Her thoughts were hidden from me as she chose my wardrobe for the day and laid it out for me on the sofa. I sighed. Alice was up to something, and I wouldn't know what it was until she wanted me to.

"Come on!" she giggled, "Today is going to be _unforgettable_."

I didn't like the way she emphasised the word unforgettable. But with another sigh, I stood and threw on the clothes she had laid out for me. For an instant, I wondered whether her glee was something to do with her vision of my assumed mate and me. Quickly, I dismissed the notion. There was no way she would have been that calm if that were indeed the case. Dressed in dark jeans, a pale blue long-sleeved shirt that seemed to play up all the muscles in my lean body and a fitted charcoal grey woollen designer jacket, I descended the stairs.

When I reached the bottom, I was assaulted by my family's assessment of how I looked. Alice was _satisfied_ with her selections. Jasper was amused and smiled slyly when he sensed my confusion. Esme concluded that I was incredibly handsome and started comparing me to an angel. Monsters should not be compared to angels! My attire seemed to reignite Rosalie's irritation that I have never thought of her as anything more than a sister.

I shrugged and asked, "Shall we?" as I headed to my Volvo.

As we got closer to the school, I swear that I could feel the car start to vibrate as Alice's excitement started to reach uncharted territory. Perhaps this is the day that I would meet my soul mate, I mused. Exiting the car, my family and I entered the school and went our separate ways just like any other day.

Well, almost. My mind was inundated with commentaries about my looks and clothing. It was like the first day all over again, except my siblings weren't taking their share of the attention. Every girl's head turned and followed me as I walked down the hallways as every boy imagined beating me to a pulp during lunch hour. The thoughts belonging to the boyfriends of the girls whose attention I had captured were even more violent. It was hilarious; these children couldn't harm a vampire. Perhaps Alice was right and today wouldn't be so bad? It wasn't until the end of first period that I realised this really wasn't like any other day, and not just because of the renewed and redoubled attention I was receiving from the female students.

Because I had been concentrating on filtering out the thoughts of the students around me, I was taken completely by surprise when Lauren Mallory stepped up to my desk as the bell rang signalling the end of class. Before even my vampire mind could really process what was going on, she spoke.

"You know the Spring Dance is coming up at the end of the month right?" she asked me hesitantly.

Oh god. I was going to have to have a conversation with her. Her thoughts were a flurry of nervousness, so I had no idea what her intentions were.

"No, I hadn't heard about it," I answered truthfully.

"Well, its girls' choice…" her sentence trailed off.

Oh.

Oh!

"…and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?" she finished with a confidence that was nonexistent in her thoughts.

No! My mind screamed at me. Thankfully, my quick vampire mind allowed me to formulate a more gentlemanly refusal.

"Thank you for asking me," I told her smoothly. Well, that was a flat out lie. "But I wasn't planning on attending." The second part was all truth, however.

With that, I picked up my books and swept out of the room headed towards my next class, effectively ruining all of my attempts at acting like a gentleman. Lauren's thoughts behind me were irritated as she created a list of rival girls who I might want to attend the dance with, none of whom she thought could compare to her I'm _not_ going, I thought in irritation.

I was still annoyed when I entered my second class and slammed my books down on the desk a little harder than necessary. It made Jessica Stanley jump in surprise and alarm. I hadn't even noticed her hovering beside my usual seat.

'_I hope Lauren hasn't gotten to him first,'_ she thought.

I groaned internally.

"So, Edward," she began. The way she said my name made my stomach turn.

I turned and looked at her as I slid into my seat.

"The spring dance is coming up and its girls' choice."

I cursed Alice to the fiery pits of hell as I listened to Jessica. She knew this was going to happen.

"And I was thinking you should go with me."

It wasn't even a question! I started to open my mouth to respond, but had to close it again when she continued speaking.

"I know none of the girls here are good enough for _you_, but that's no reason to miss out on the dance. We could go as friends," she offered.

If I couldn't hear her thoughts, I might have thought her offer was genuine; she was an excellent actress when it suited her.

'_He's thinking about it… perfect… I just need him to say yes and then I have the whole night to work on him… Lauren is… everyone is going to be so jealous…'_

Her thoughts quickly degenerated into nothing short of nauseating, not to mention disturbing, so I tuned her out and offered her the same response I'd given Lauren only a few minutes ago.

The rest of the day continued like this and my temper became shorter and shorter. I was about ready to snap when I opened my locker and several notes tumbled out onto the floor. Picking them up, I tossed them back inside, I knew what they were; they were from girls who weren't brave enough to talk to me directly.

When the final bell rang signalling the end of school, I was on edge. I was so angry and irritated that I was actually having trouble tuning the voices out as I stalked over to my car. Wordlessly, I slipped into the driver's seat and drove home, my family was already in the car. They'd correctly assumed that I wouldn't wait for them today.

"So…" Emmett started suggestively as we walked into the house.

I just glared at him. I'm fairly sure I just gave new meaning to the saying 'if looks could kill'.

Rosalie curled up gracefully on a sofa. "Come on, let's find out who won," she demanded impatiently.

I looked at my family, momentarily confused, only just now realising that Carlisle and Esme were here too. It took a moment for me to garner from their thoughts that they had taken bets on how many girls would ask me to the dance today. I sighed. Were they going to include the notes in my locker?

"Yes, it includes the notes in your locker," Alice giggled as she settled in Jasper's lap.

"23," I grumbled my answer and stormed up the stairs to blast some very angry music in my room, but not before I saw Carlisle's smug smile – he'd won the bet.

"I hope you behaved like the gentleman I know you are," I could hear the smile in her voice as Esme called up the stairs after me.

**------------------------------**

Around 9 o'clock, I was disturbed by Alice.

'_We're all going hunting,'_ she thought, _'and that includes you.'_

I sighed and changed into dark clothes, ready to go hunting with my traitorous and insensitive family. I could tell by the tenor of Alice's thoughts that there would be no arguing.

After we had all drunk our fill, I had been lucky enough to find a couple of mountain lions and a bear to vent my anger on, we all headed back to the house. As we got closer, Jasper tensed and a low warning growl escaped him. Immediately I focused, searching for any minds that might be nearby. Nothing.

"There's no one here," I assured him.

"Can't you smell him?" Jasper hissed as his body curved protectively around Alice's.

Each taking a deep breath, we all picked up the scent that upset Jasper and quickened our pace as we ran back to the house. We stopped short when we arrived. On the front porch was a small package, it reeked of his scent and it was addressed to Alice. Carlisle picked it up and wordlessly ushered us all inside.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed my payback against Edward. I always thought it was awful how he watched and laughed while Bella dealt with the advances of Tyler, Mike and Eric.

17-June-2009  
15-August-2009 -- beta'd


	6. 05 x Old Acquaintances, New Nightmares

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

On the front porch was a small package, it reeked of his scent and it was addressed to Alice.

**Chapter ****five: Old Acquaintances, New Nightmares**

Edward's POV

We all took our places around the large dining room table. It was rarely used, just a prop to help us maintain the human charade. Carlisle placed the small brown paper package on the table and we all just stared at it. The room was smothered in tension; few thoughts were coherently formed into words. The general tenor was panicked and worried.

"Is someone going to open it?" Rosalie finally snapped. Emmett put a large hand on her arm, seemingly to restrain her.

"Would you like to open it?" Carlisle asked, looking to Alice. "Or would you like someone else to?"

Alice stared at the package. None of us had any idea what it could possibly contain. It couldn't hurt us, but we were still afraid of it.

"No, I'll do it," Alice eventually said as she pulled the package towards her.

Jasper flooded the room with calming waves as he took his place just behind his wife, ready to offer support. He also placed a calming hand on her shoulder. Alice tentatively slid a finger under the brown paper and began to gingerly open the parcel. With the brown paper removed, we were greeted with a plain cardboard box. We still had no clue what it could contain.

'_I can still smell his scent all over it,'_ Jasper thought angrily. My eyes locked with his for a moment to silently convey that I could also still smell the scent.

Alice's hands were perfectly steady as she slowly removed the lid from the box. I knew that if she were still human, her hands would have been shaking violently from fear and tension. With the lid gone the whole family craned their necks attempting to see its contents. Inside the box sat some kind of ID bracelet, a tattered old doll, a thin gold chain with a small pendant in the shape of the letter M, and a photograph. All the items save the photograph were very old.

Jasper leaned forward past his wife and sniffed the box's contents.

"His scent is here too," he informed us. "Strongest on the photograph."

The whole family was in shock. None of us could compose coherent thoughts.

'_Whose name__ starts with an M?'_ Rosalie eventually thought.

"Plus there's another scent that I can't quite identify, it's definitely familiar though," Jasper mused.

"Another scent?" Carlisle instantly snapped back to reality.

Jasper handed the box to Carlisle who immediately leaned forward and inhaled deeply.

"Yes, I can definitely smell James," Carlisle said, his thoughts mirroring his spoken words. "And the other scent is familiar… human?"

"Alice!" Jasper suddenly breathed in a panic.

In response to her name, my head automatically snapped around so that I was looking directly at her. Alice was trembling. She'd drawn her knees up and was hugging them to her chest while she was slowly rocking back and forth. I reached out to her mind. Her thoughts did not form words. I felt her terror and saw only blackness, which was pierced with what I assumed were memories of excruciating pain. Her thoughts terrified me so I blocked them out; my family would ask me to listen in again in a moment. Glancing up, I realised that I was the only vampire to notice Alice's breakdown.

'_These were Alice's when she was human,'_ the thoughts of Esme, Jasper, and Carlisle greeted me simultaneously.

There was so much fear and worry in the room that Jasper hadn't even noticed his wife's blinding terror.

"Jasper!" I snapped, everyone besides Alice turned to stare at me, "Your wife!"

Jasper was instantly kneeling at Alice's side trying to calm her, but having little or no effect.

"What's she thinking?" he cried, the distress evident in his voice.

"Nothing was clear before. Mostly she was just thinking about black and pain," I offered as I dove back into her mind. "It's still the same. She's terrified, she's in the dark and every now and then, she remembers a searing pain in her head…"

Jasper focused all of his energy on trying to calm his wife. It didn't seem to have an effect on Alice, but the rest of us were so calm we were having trouble standing up.

"Is she getting any better?" Jasper asked frantically. He already knew the answer because he could feel her emotions.

"No."

"Take her upstairs," Carlisle instructed.

Jasper didn't need telling twice as he scooped Alice up and flew up the stairs. It was a relief to have all of the calm leave the room. The rest of us needed to worry and experience the fear so that we could process our thoughts and emotions. I refocused on the thoughts around me.

'_Those items must have triggered her memories,'_ thought Carlisle.

'_Poor Alice,'_ Esme thought, _'Maybe we'll be able to discover something about her past?'_

'_Alice…'_ thought Rosalie.

'_I'll kill him!'_ thought Emmett.

'_Her memories must be __incredibly traumatic to trigger an acute stress reaction like that…'_ Carlisle's medical training had started to kick in.

"Jasper will take care of Alice," I snapped, "We have to take care of James!"

Four pairs of golden eyes stared at me in shock. I had clearly fixated on the threat that James posed to Alice and the family much faster than everyone else. My family was still primarily worried about Alice. Knowing what I knew about James from our brief encounter with him, I knew that he felt possessively towards Alice. He would be back. I also knew that he didn't like to be denied.

"When he was here, he had a possessiveness to his thoughts when he looked at Alice," I explained to my family. "And he's definitely used to getting his way."

"So he'll be back," surmised Carlisle.

"I'm certain of it."

"Well, we'll be waiting to tear him to shreds," Emmett said, while flexing his muscles threateningly.

"No we won't," Jasper stated matter-of-factly, appearing at the top of the stairs.

Everyone in the room was shocked. Surely Jasper would want to kill James for what he'd done to Alice? All thoughts swirled around this one truth. Esme's optimism quickly found her an explanation though.

'_He wants James to tell him about Alice's past,'_ she thought.

I shook my head a little at how naïve Esme could be sometimes. We all loved her fiercely, but sometimes her optimism and kind nature caused her to draw the most ludicrous conclusions.

"Esme, can you look after Alice?" Jasper asked.

"Of course, dear," Esme said as she shot up the stairs to begin her vigil.

"We're going to hunt James," Jasper turned his attention back to us.

"Yes!" crowed Emmett.

"Are you sure that's necessary?" asked Carlisle. Sometimes he was as bad as Esme. "We may yet be able to find a peaceful resolution."

"No!" Jasper and I exclaimed at the same time.

"He's a tracker, Carlisle," I continued, "He won't stop until he has her."

A collective gasp sounded in the room.

"In that case we have no choice," he said grimly.

Jasper disappeared into the garage and came back holding a small backpack. He started relaying information as he let his military training kick in and seized control of the situation.

"Carlisle and Rosalie will stay here with Esme and Alice in case they try to get Alice here at the house," Jasper started issuing orders. "Edward, Emmett and I will track James. We'll keep in touch via cell phone," he finished.

It was very unusual in our family for anyone other than Carlisle to issue orders like this; and he did it only rarely. Even more surprising was that Jasper was ordering Carlisle around. No one vampire was designated leader of our family, but Carlisle was our father figure, and was generally placed in the role of leader by default. But Rosalie's reaction dumbfounded us all.

"No," she said simply, "I'm not letting Emmett go by himself."

"Alice is vulnerable right now," countered Jasper. "She needs to be protected."

"And she will be," argued Rosalie. "If Carlisle and Esme aren't enough to protect her, then you or Edward can stay."

"No, I _will_ kill James," Jasper growled menacingly.

"Jasper's right," Carlisle agreed, placing a calming hand on Rosalie's shoulder. "It makes sense for the three of them to go, they are all strong fighters."

"And I'm not?" spat Rosalie.

"No one said that," Carlisle reasoned. "You will be invaluable here helping to protect Alice."

"Edward can do that," Rosalie soldiered on stubbornly.

"Yes, but his mind reading ability will help to track James," Carlisle continued gently.

I could sense Rosalie giving into Jasper and Carlisle's logic. Her thoughts told me that she knew that any decision Jasper made would be based on strategy and logic. However, despite that, she didn't want to let Emmett out of her sight. Emmett swept her up in his massive arms and kissed her roughly and passionately before whispering something in her ear. No one strained their ears to hear, choosing to respect their privacy. Rosalie gave a small resigned nod in response to whatever Emmett said to her, and the three of us left the house to begin the hunt.

James was smart. He'd circled around the house a few times in random patterns making it difficult to pick up his trail. We ran a few miles away from the house and completed another large sweep around the house. There were still multiple trails but it was significant progress. As a group we paused, wondering which was the best trail to follow.

"Which way would you have gone if you were James?" Emmett asked Jasper, breaking the silence.

Jasper became thoughtful. Emmett didn't need my mind reading ability to know exactly what was going on in Jasper's head. He was analysing and reanalysing every detail of the situation to determine what he would have done in James' place. After two minutes he pointed to a trail heading west. Just as he turned to follow it, Emmett stopped him.

"And which trail comes in second place?" Emmett asked Jasper.

Although more than a little confused by Emmett's question, an extremely impatient Jasper indicated the trail that would be, in his opinion, the second most likely path. I couldn't help but smile when, after listening to Emmett's thoughts, I realised what he was doing. People, and vampires, often assumed that Emmett was all brawn and no brain, but that wasn't the case. Today he was demonstrating his brilliant and insightful mind. After Jasper had indicated the trail that was the least likely Emmett told him that this was the one we should follow. If the situation weren't so serious, I would have laughed out loud at Jasper's expression.

"Are you crazy?" Jasper growled at Emmett.

"No," Emmett said with a shrug.

"He's got a point," I told Jasper.

"That's nice," Jasper snapped, "I don't know what that is unless someone says it out loud!"

"Sorry," Emmett and I apologised in unison.

"Emmett thinks that since James took the time to lay the fake trails, he would also have considered which trail we would choose to follow," I began to explain.

"He'll assume that we will follow the trail headed west, because that is the logical choice," Emmett continued.

"Which is exactly why we should follow the trail headed north-east," I finished.

After a moments thought, Jasper grudgingly conceded that Emmett had a point. We checked in with Carlisle and then started north-east following James' trail.

**------------------------------**

Carlisle's POV

Esme was upstairs, trying to offer Alice some comfort, while Rosalie and I were looking at the items that James had left. Jasper had phoned in five minutes ago, informing us that they were following a trail north-east. Rosalie and I were hoping to find a clue among the four items delivered in the package that would help us calm Alice. We had agreed that Esme should take a look at the photograph to see if she could identify where the house was, based on the building's age and architecture. I would start researching the plastic ID bracelet; it appeared to be from a hospital. The gold necklace didn't have any engraving so we didn't think that it would be very helpful, but the doll might help Esme identify roughly in what decade Alice was a child.

After being relieved by Rosalie, Esme studied the photograph all the while furiously scribbling notes about the house's features on a notepad. Her fervour betrayed her worry, but the task was helping her to feel useful. I didn't need Jasper's gift to know that she was feeling helpless by being unable to soothe Alice.

The house in the picture was a classic design. I could tell that it was probably built in the late 1800s or thereabouts. No doubt Esme would be able to make a more accurate summation; her frenzied notetaking was a testament to that fact. The house itself was a large two storey mansion, coloured white. Large galleries supported by two storey columns made the house look imposing, but its exterior was softened by the triangle-pattern balusters. Three wide steps led to the wide inviting front door and there was a matching door directly above on the second floor opening out onto the upper gallery.

I took the ID bracelet and went to the computer in my study, beginning my search. Several hours of hunting later, I had miraculously discovered where the ID bracelet came from. A small asylum. The facility had closed down decades ago, but the records had been donated to the Department of Psychology at a local university. After a stressful, but pleasant conversation with a Dr. Blake, the files for patients 721036 and 721086 were being sent to me at the hospital. Not even vampire eyesight was able to determine whether that number was a three or an eight!

Rosalie, Esme and I convened in the dining room. We had left Alice alone, which sadly didn't seem to make any difference to her. My search had yielded the asylum and we would soon be able to look at the patient records that corresponded to the ID bracelet. Hopefully, one of them would belong to Alice. We were anxious for them to arrive, because they might hold information about what had terrified her. Finding the asylum had also simplified Esme's search. She had narrowed her possible locations for the house in the photograph down to only two suburbs.

We had achieved a lot and nothing at the same time. Esme went back upstairs to sit with Alice, while Rosalie and I sat and waited for one of the boys to call us with news of James. Of three things we were absolutely certain. First, James didn't just recognise Alice, he knew her, second, Alice's nightmare had only just begun, and third, we would do anything to save her.

* * *

**A/N: **Finally some actual drama. Leave me your thoughts. Anonymous reviews accepted. The song "New Divide" by Linkin Park goes well with this chapter.

21-June-2009  
22-August-2009 – beta'd


	7. 06 x It's Never Lupus

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

Of three things we were absolutely certain. First, James didn't just recognise Alice, he knew her, second, Alice's nightmare had only just begun, and third, we would do anything to save her.

**Chapter ****six: It's Never Lupus**

Edward's POV

The trees blurred past us as Jasper and Emmett ran as fast as they were able. I was the fastest, so I focused on following James' trail, while my brothers concentrated primarily on running. There were a few points where the scent became very faint and almost impossible to follow, but we persevered. Emmett's logic had made us confident in our choice. Also, Jasper was certain that James would be using all of his tricks to try and evade us.

As we followed James' scent, it continued to get stronger and stronger. We had chosen correctly. Even after knowing Emmett for over half a century, his flashes of brilliance still amazed me. Who would have thought that Emmett, of all vampires, would come up with the twisted logic that would allow us to choose the correct trail?

We were a long way past the baseball clearing now and were getting closer to areas where we would have to be wary of stumbling upon humans. Reaching out with my mind, I searched for any sign of our quarry.

I could hear a father and son bickering at a soaking camp site. I could also hear the thoughts of a very disgruntled woman as she internally berated her boyfriend for convincing her that this camping trip would be romantic. Using my _normal_ hearing, I could hear the clumsy movements of the four humans who were nearby as well as several animals who would make a decent meal if we were hunting.

Then I finally heard it. The mental voice was scared. It was hard to tell if he was more scared of us or of the two vampires he was with. I had located Laurent. Signalling to Emmett and Jasper, we all stopped as I relayed what little information I had. The three vampires we met while playing baseball were less than two miles away. And we were lucky. Nature was on our side and the wind was blowing such that we would be able to make a stealthy assault on their position.

Jasper quickly formulated a plan of attack. James was his, naturally, and Emmett and I would deal with Victoria and Laurent. Victoria would be my adversary; my speed would hopefully give me an advantage in that fight; Emmett's formidable strength would aid him in his fight. As we started to ghost towards their position, carefully monitoring the wind lest it shifted direction, I reached out with my mind to monitor the three vampires.

James' thoughts were oddly quiet and difficult to discern, but overall, he was internally gloating at the successful delivery of the package. Victoria's thoughts were consumed by worry as her eyes darted around the forest looking for the first signs of danger. Any wisps of a thought that were not focused on survival were trained on James. Laurent's thoughts betrayed him as the weak link. He was not attached to his two companions. There was no bond. Laurent was terrified and didn't want anything to do with another of James' games; especially since this one was becoming so dangerous!

Thanks to Jasper's careful planning and some luck with the wind, we were able to sneak up on James, Laurent and Victoria. Victoria was the first to notice our approach, but it was already too late. Jasper and Emmett had leapt from the trees and tackled their opposition to the ground before they could even turn to defend themselves. Unfortunately for me, Victoria was ready; she had to have some kind of sixth sense. Dodging my initial attack, she let out a feral snarl.

It was obvious that Victoria was no inexperienced vampire as we circled each other. Jasper may have even found fighting her a challenge. This meant an extremely close fight for me, even with my added sense. Still circling and snarling at each other, I dove into her mind to exploit the only real advantage that I had. She was weighing her options. She knew I was fast; possibly faster than her. She wanted an escape; she wanted James; she wanted a way out.

"There's no way out," I taunted her.

All of her attention immediately snapped back to me. _'Mind reader,'_ she snarled in her mind. Her intentions became harder to read as she attempted to block me from her mind, but her efforts were in vain; she didn't have the decades of practice that my family had. Her mistake, she incorrectly assumed that I could only read the thoughts in the fore of her mind. We continued to circle each other, both feinting from side to side, searching for an opening to attack. We were very evenly matched.

Everyone in the small clearing was startled by the same surprised sound. I was so distracted that my head turned instinctively, seeking the source of the noise. When I looked back, Victoria had disappeared.

Jasper's POV

After Edward located James and the rest of his coven, I leapt into action. I planned and I strategised. James was going to pay dearly for what he'd done to my Alice and nothing short of a miracle was going to let him escape my clutches. He was mine; it made the most strategic sense, and even if it didn't, my brothers wouldn't have dared to argue with me. I had also assessed Victoria as a dangerous adversary. She would also be fast so Edward would fight her, and his ability would give him a welcome advantage. That left Laurent for Emmett. He didn't strike me as much of a fighter; Emmett's strength should easily obliterate him.

Luck seemed to be on our side, the wind continued to blow to our advantage as we stalked through the forest towards the three unsuspecting vampires. We all leapt at our respective opponents. James and Laurent were caught almost completely off guard, giving Emmett and me the advantage in our respective scuffles. Something however, tipped Victoria off. She seemed to have some sort of hyperawareness or extra powerful instincts.

Laurent was sent flying through the air as a result of Emmett's attack, while Victoria managed to evade Edward and they now circled each other. But I had to trust in my brothers' abilities despite their lack of experience and focused on James. Catching him by surprise, I had caused some damage to his right arm as I pounced and sunk my teeth into his stone body. He was an experienced fighter though and quickly tossed me off of him.

James and I came at each other, retreated, feinted, snapped, snarled and growled in an intricate and violent dance. He had managed to land a blow to my chest, but my years of fighting experience meant that I was whole and pieces of James were gradually being chipped away. James' ability to deal with the emotions I was sending him was more than a little impressive. Throwing a potent wave of uncertainty at James, I lunged at him, tearing a few fingers from his body with sickening snaps.

As we started to circle again, each looking for the next opening to attack, I heard a muffled sound to my left, but nothing would break my focus from this fight. Reflexively, James' head turned toward the sound and I crouched to spring and bring the fight to an end. Something red in my periphery vision split my focus however, and I growled in frustration as James and Victoria disappeared into the forest.

Emmett's POV

Edward found them. Jasper planned it all and now I got to tear Laurent to pieces. I would have loved a piece of James, but Jasper would make him pay for hurting my sister. Leaping towards Laurent with a roar, I caught him completely off guard and slammed into him so hard that he was sent flying with a deafening crack. Landing on his feet, he took one frenzied look at his surroundings; Jasper pummelling James, Edward circling with Victoria, and then just ran. I couldn't help the surprised and disappointed sound that escaped my lips.

"Shit!" swore Edward.

That was unusual; Edward prided himself on being the consummate gentleman. I turned to see if I could help either of my brothers – I was in desperate need of something to tear to pieces – only to discover that the three of us were alone in the clearing.

"Where did they go?" I asked, confused.

"Was that ridiculous noise you, Emmett?" Edward demanded.

"What noise?" I was really confused now. I hadn't heard anything.

Jasper mimicked a weird, confused sounding noise. For a moment, I was only more confused, which made Edward growl at me. Then I realised, yes, that sound was me. That must have been my verbalisation of surprise when Laurent up and legged it. Edward snorted as I answered.

"Yeah, that was me," I said with a shrug, "I was just so surprised when Laurent up and ran."

"Well, now they're _all_ gone," snarled Jasper. He looked as though he might tear my head clean off.

Edward's POV

Emmett was not our favourite vampire at the moment. Jasper and I were furious that he one, let Laurent get away, and two, made that ridiculous noise, allowing James and Victoria to get away as well! Because James, Laurent and Victoria had disappeared in different directions, we didn't know where they had gone. They could have ran to Canada to hide or back to the house to attempt an attack on Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Alice, knowing that we were away. After checking in with Carlisle, we decided it was best to head back to the house and regroup. We _would_ find James again and he _would_ be made to pay.

Because Laurent had run back towards our home, we tracked his scent. Emmett was silent during the run, I could tell from his thoughts that he felt terrible for allowing James to escape. At first I was incensed that he had provided the distraction that allowed James and his coven to escape and only became more irate when his thoughts were so puzzled. Now that my famous temper had had time to cool, and was no longer being egged on by Jasper's projected emotions, I could appreciate what a surprise Laurent's reaction was. Especially to someone like Emmett. Simply turning and fleeing from a fight was not something that Emmett could easily comprehend.

Laurent's trail was much easier to follow than James' had been because he had simply fled and hadn't paid any mind to covering his tracks. Still, nobody spoke as I ran to the symphony that was Emmett's and Jasper's thoughts. Emmett's thoughts had turned angry as he remembered Alice's reaction to the package, but they were nothing when compared to the thoughts that raged inside Jasper's mind. All too soon, we came to a dead end, metaphorically speaking. Laurent had continued on past our home and we'd promised Carlisle we would return home promptly.

When we returned to the house, we were greeted by Carlisle and Esme, who filled us in on all that they had discovered during the few short hours that we were away. Rosalie was upstairs with Alice. What they discovered from those precious few items was truly amazing. That Carlisle had those old patient files being sent to us was astounding. One of those files could be for our Alice and that scared me. It scared the whole family. But it might explain why, of all of us, Alice has no human memories.

Jasper's thoughts were in a frenzy as he digested the information Carlisle and Esme were giving us. At the mention of the patient files, his thoughts turned hopeful, yet at the same time even more terrified, as he imagined Alice in an asylum. And as Esme told us she'd narrowed down the suburb where the house in the photograph was probably situated, Jasper immediately started to discuss driving there. In response, Emmett's thoughts turned excited as he thought about a road trip. Thankfully he didn't voice this out loud and maybe Jasper would write his excitement off to discovering Alice's human past and not a road trip.

"We'll have to wait for break before driving out there," counselled Carlisle. "Everyone will want to go and we can't all just up and disappear in the middle of the school term without drawing attention."

As Carlisle finished his sentence, Rosalie practically flew down the stairs and into Emmett's arms.

"So they're dead?" she asked.

"No, they got away," Jasper snarled. Emmett looked a little sheepish.

"Got away?" Rosalie asked, now confused. Focusing on her thoughts, I could see the thick plume of purple-ish smoke rising through the forest as Rosalie looked out through Alice's bedroom window. "Then why is there smoke?"

"What smoke?" asked Jasper and Carlisle in unison. Carlisle tried to make sense of Rosalie's questions, while Jasper immediately become tense and wary.

"I saw it from the window. Purple smoke, just like that one time," Rosalie defended herself.

"Show us," Carlisle instructed.

As Rosalie turned and pointed through the huge glass window that formed the back wall of the house, the family turned to see the purple smoke climbing into the sky. There was no doubt that someone was burning the remains of a vampire. As everyone realised the smoke was coming from Quileute territory, the whole family thought the same thing.

'_Wolves…'

* * *

_

**A/N:** I've been told the switches between point-of-view in this chapter are confusing. Sorry, but I like the three different perspectives on the non-fight too much to change it :) If you read it again with the knowledge that it's the same scene it won't be anywhere near as confusing.

01-July-2009  
22-August-2009 -- beta'd


	8. 07 x Leader of the Pack

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

As everyone realised the smoke was coming from Quileute territory the whole family thought the same thing.

'_Wolves…'_

**Chapter ****seven: Leader of the Pack**

Edward's POV

The thought that there were still wolves in Forks made the entire family uneasy. I, for one, was certain that they had died out with Ephraim Black and his pack decades ago; that the genetic quirk had not been passed on. Obviously, the rest of my family and I, judging by their thoughts, were mistaken. The family had encountered the wolves the last time we lived in Forks. That was before Jasper and Alice had joined us.

Carlisle and Ephraim, the alpha of the pack, had forged a treaty drawing a boundary line between Forks and La Push. To maintain the fragile truce, all we had to do was stay on our respective sides of the line. Hopefully, the wolves didn't consider the treaty broken by Laurent's trespass. We simply could not afford a confrontation with a pack of dogs while James and Victoria were on the loose. Listening in to my family, we were all in agreement. Jasper's thoughts were the loudest, followed closely by Emmett's. While Emmett was simply itching for a fight, Jasper was pondering how much of a threat to Alice the wolves would pose.

Jacob's POV

We were all still buzzing from our first kill. It was hard to concentrate on anything with my excitement mingling with the that of the pack; it was overwhelming. The purple smoke was surprising. Who would have thought bloodsuckers burn purple? Jared and Paul snorted in response to my thoughts.

'_Smells worse than __incense,'_ Embry and Quil thought in unison, wrinkling their noses.

'_Focus.'_

Sam's command was all it took for every one of us to snap to attention. Following orders, we split up. Sam, Paul and Jared headed one way, while Embry, Quil and I went another, searching for any signs of more bloodsuckers on our land. We had to search for well over an hour. Most of that time was spent complaining since we couldn't find even a trace of another bloodsucker. After Sam followed Dracula's scent to the boundary line, he finally conceded that the bloodsucker was on his lonesome.

As we ran back to Sam and Emily's place for a barbeque dinner, everyone's thoughts were on the treaty. Had it been broken? Dracula had definitely crossed the boundary line. Thoughts similar to these flooded everyone's minds for the short run back home. Phasing back into my human form was a big relief; now I only had my thoughts to deal with.

Sam quickly greeted Emily as he walked into the house and towards the phone. The rest of the pack did the same; only our greeting involved a lot less tongue. Must keep that thought out of my head the next time I'm in my wolf form!

Sam called my dad, Harry Clearwater and old Quil Ateara, inviting them round for the barbeque and to hear the _news_. It wasn't long before more hamburgers and hotdogs than you could poke a stick at were being cooked. By the time three of the tribe's most respected elders rocked up to the party, we were already fighting over the food that had finished cooking. After making sure that enough of the next batch of dogs was set aside for the elders, we hoed into the rest while Sam explained what had happened.

We ate the hotdogs with fascination as we watched the old men's brows furrow and unfurrow while they listened to Sam's update on the bloodsucker situation. I didn't need to be in my wolf form to know that Paul was totally jazzed and riled up for a fight. My dad and the other elders ate their dinner as they discussed in hushed tones what should be done about the bloodsuckers; whether the treaty _had_ been broken.

Paul was getting more and more excited as we waited for a verdict. It was palpable as the trembles travelling through his massive body became more violent. Sam either had the same worry as I did or he sensed my unease, but I was relieved when he sent Paul into the house to get more drinks. My dad was a tough old bastard, but he didn't need Paul phasing next to him.

When all the food was gone, everyone was waiting for the attack order to come. But it didn't.

"We will not be fighting," said Sam, "The treaty has not been broken."

"What?" shouted several pack members at once.

There was a lot of animosity within the pack towards bloodsuckers and in particular, the Cullens. It was their fault that we had started phasing. I knew for a fact that Sam held them responsible for what happened to Emily. Spreading the blame helped him deal with the shame he felt for marring her beauty with claw marks.

"Calm down," my father's deep voice rumbled through the yard.

"The treaty has not been broken," Sam repeated. "No Cullen has set foot on our land and they have not bitten a human. Our ancestors knew that the Cullens were not the only vampires when the treaty was formed. So long as they don't harm humans and stay off of our land, they are safe from us. We will not go looking for a fight."

"But…" Paul started to whine, but he was cut off. He was standing, towering over a seated Sam and the other elders, with his hands balled into fists, his whole body trembling once more.

"That is not the way of our people," Harry Clearwater stated firmly. My father and old Quil Ateara nodded in agreement. "Your purpose as protectors of our tribe is just that – to protect. Not to start fights."

Paul was still shaking. He didn't look convinced, actually none of us were. The whole point of phasing was so that we could kill bloodsuckers. Just because the ones that lived next door only slurped animal blood didn't change that. Sensing that more arguments were about to start, my father started telling an old tribal myth.

"Surely you all remember Q'waeti?" my father asked. He was answered by several nods. "Hmm… well you obviously don't remember his lessons. Q'waeti was the one to transform the wolves into people. He created the Quileute and blessed our people as strong and fierce warriors."

"Exactly," interrupted an eager Embry.

"But he did not mean for us to fight," my father continued, ignoring the interruption.

"When Q'waeti was journeying the world instructing people how to act, teaching the up-side-down people, the Hoh, how to walk on their feet, he encountered Beaver sharpening his stone knife. Q'waeti asked Beaver what he was doing. Beaver replied: 'I am sharpening my knife so that I may kill Q'waeti.' Q'waeti took Beaver's knife and stuck it on his tail. 'You shall always have this stuck to your tail and you shall live in the water. You will just slap the water with your tail and dive when people come,' Q'waeti told beaver."

"Another time, Q'waeti happened upon Deer sharpening his shell knife. Thereupon, Q'waeti asked Deer what he was sharpening the knife for. Deer replied: 'I am going to kill Q'waeti.' Q'waeti seized the shell knife and stuck it on Deer's ears. He told Deer: 'When you see people you shall run away frightened, then stop and look back.' Then Q'waeti went on his way."

**------------------------------**

Edward's POV

The day after the confrontation with James, Victoria and Laurent the whole family was still on edge. Knowing that Laurent had met his end should have offered us some comfort, but the wolves only added to our worries. The only positive was that Alice was back with us; she had finally snapped out of the nightmares that were her human memories. Esme had spent the day doing more research about the house in the photograph and Carlisle had gone into work. Rosalie, Emmett and I had gone to school like normal. One would think that the urgency of recent events would have earned us a day off school at the very least. Alice and Jasper had stayed home, spending the entire day holed up in Alice's room.

When Carlisle came home that evening, he was agitated and blocking his thoughts from me. Calling everyone into the dining room for a family meeting, he proceeded to tell us all about the message he had received today at the hospital. Someone from La Push had called. Apparently, we needed to _talk_.

Before the roar of thoughts became too unbearable, Carlisle pulled his cell phone from his pocket and started dialing. Immediately, all thoughts quieted as the whole family's thoughts fell into sync; we were all fixated on the phone call.

"Hello," a gruff voice answered the phone.

"Billy Black?" Carlisle asked, "This is Carlisle Cullen."

After some shuffling and muffled words, a different voice answered.

"This is Sam. We need to talk."

"Agreed. Do you have a particular place in mind?"

"Where La Push Road crosses that small stream, just outside the boundary line."

"Time?"

"Midnight."

"See you then."

Carlisle turned to face the family when he had finished the call.

"I guess everyone heard," he asked us. Everyone nodded. "Well, I think it will be best if only Edward and I go to the meeting."

"What?" cried Emmett.

"Good. I don't want Alice anywhere near the wolves," added Jasper.

"We don't know if they consider the treaty broken or not," I explained on Carlisle's behalf. "And Carlisle doesn't want them feeling threatened."

"You can't go by yourselves," exclaimed Esme.

"We can and we will," Carlisle said grimly. "But Emmett and Rosalie will stay just a mile or so out, just in case we need help."

**------------------------------**

At midnight, Carlisle and I stepped onto La Push Road at the appointed place. We knew we had the place and time of the meeting correct due to the stench of the wolves. Before we could give it any more thought, a huge dark haired and dark skinned man stepped out of the trees. He was well over six feet tall and was flanked by four enormous wolves; two on either side.

"Sam," Carlisle greeted the man. "I am Carlisle and this is my son Edward." Carlisle gestured towards me as he said my name.

"We're here to discuss the treaty," Sam stated.

I could tell from Sam's thoughts that he didn't want this meeting to take any longer than it had to. My own thoughts were on the same page, the wolves accompanying him were restless and they set me on edge.

'_Are we alright?'_ asked Carlisle.

"Yes. They simply want to reiterate the terms of the treaty. They don't consider us to have broken our agreement," I answered Carlisle aloud.

'_What?'_

'_We should kill them all.'_

'_How did he know that?'_

The flurry of thoughts in response to my statement made me regret answering Carlisle is such an obvious manner. The wolves had no idea how I already knew their intentions; they didn't know of my ability. I had however unnerved them, making our position all the more precarious. Knowing that Rosalie and Emmett were only a mile or so away was comforting. They would easily be able to hear if Carlisle or I were to call for help.

"Forgive my son," Carlisle tried to diffuse the situation. "He is gifted, and he didn't mean to cause alarm."

"Gifted?" questioned Sam. The thoughts of the other wolves mirrored the sentiment.

"Yes, he has the ability to read minds," explained Carlisle. "We thought it would be beneficial in case you were uncomfortable meeting with us in human form."

Carlisle's revelation was met with stunned silence. The usual thoughts were running through the packs' minds. I'd heard it all before during those other rare times when we had told someone of my gift. I was genuinely shocked that Carlisle had revealed my ability to the wolves though. Hopefully, the shock didn't register on my face.

'_Honesty is the best policy,'_ Carlisle attempted to assuage my fears.

"Well, we just wanted to ensure that you remember the terms of the treaty," Sam continued, still flustered by Carlisle's nugget of information.

"I assure you that we remember the terms of the treaty. We still choose to only sustain ourselves from the blood of animals."

"Good. The reason we called this meeting was because we found a vampire within our territory," explained Sam.

"We know," replied Carlisle. "We saw the smoke."

"Did you know that the vampire was in the area?"

"Yes, we had had a _confrontation_ with the vampire and his companions."

"He was a friend of yours?"

"No. My sons had actually been hunting them as they had threatened the family. They are not animal drinkers like us."

"How many were there?"

"Three."

"And how many are left?"

"Two."

"So they escaped you?"

"Yes."

This exchange was starting to annoy me. Not as much as the thoughts of the wolves when Carlisle admitted that James and Victoria got away from us though. Curse Emmett!

"As long as you abide by the terms of the treaty, there won't be a problem," concluded Sam. "We will of course destroy any vampire who strays into our lands, regardless of their diet."

"Of course," agreed Carlisle.

Sam and the other wolves turned to leave when Carlisle stopped them.

"Sam?"

"Yes?" Sam turned to face us again.

"Be careful." I could hear the internal scoffs coming from the wolves. "These vampires are very dangerous. The one you killed was a coward and not much of a fighter."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Sam, his eyes narrowing. This wasn't good. Carlisle was in dangerous waters with this topic of conversation.

"I'm just warning you that the other two vampires are more powerful than the one you destroyed," Carlisle explained calmly. "The woman seems to possess a talent for evasion and the remaining male is a tracker. Do not underestimate them."

"So you're expecting them to be back?" asked Sam.

"Unfortunately, we are."

Sam's thoughts were irritated as he and the other wolves melted into the trees. He didn't appreciate Carlisle suggesting that their kill wasn't an achievement, yet at the same time, he was grateful that this information had been shared. Carlisle's plan to reveal my gift in an effort to establish some trust appeared to have worked. And Sam wasn't beyond noticing the gesture.

Carlisle and I met up with Rosalie and Emmett and we headed back to the house. Even with Rosalie there to keep him in check, Carlisle and I still had to give Emmett some details about the meeting; Carlisle would have preferred to tell the whole family at the same time.

When we arrived home, there was another package on our doorstep. This time however, we were not alarmed, we recognised the markings on the box. Carlisle scooped the box up and headed inside. Just like before, we all crowded around the dining room table, waiting to see what was inside the package. The sender was Dr. Blake from the University of Southern Mississippi; we knew the box would contain medical files from over a century ago.

* * *

**A/N: **I've been listening to 'Lupus' by Augie March… couldn't help myself :)

I've been doing a lot of research trying to make everything accurate. The Quileute legend that is told in this chapter is based on a real Quileute creation story. The original storyteller is cited as Hallie George.

Andrade, M.J. (1931). _Quileute Texts_. Columbia University Press

08-July-2009  
23-September-2009 -- beta'd


	9. 08 x Alice Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

After a stressful but pleasant conversation with a Dr. Blake, the files for patients 721036 and 721086 were being sent to me from the hospital.

**Chapter ****eight: Alice Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest**

Edward's POV

When we entered the house, I was greeted by Alice's thoughts. They were much clearer now and were no longer solely of darkness and remembered pain. She was getting better, recovering. Alice's improvement pushed all thoughts of the meeting with the wolves from our minds.

'_Sorry Edward,'_ she thought to me.

I sighed and gave a shake of my head as Alice apologised to _me_. Witnessing the nightmarish memories that she became trapped in, I couldn't fathom why she was apologising. I should be the one seeking forgiveness. I had heard James' thoughts; I should never have let her open that box.

"Because you had to see them too," she explained as she skipped down the stairs.

"You were terrified for her, Edward," Jasper clarified, also adding his thanks.

"Alice, it was just so…" I started, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

"I know, Edward, I was there," Alice soothed, placing one of her small hands on my arm and giving a gentle squeeze.

"Now what's in those medical files?" Emmett boomed with enthusiasm. Nothing got Emmett down for long.

Carlisle shook his head infinitesimally as he took his seat at the head of the dining room table. The rest of the family followed suit; this was the most use one of our dining room tables had ever gotten. As Carlisle opened the first file that had been forwarded from the hospital, everyone craned their necks trying to see its contents. While the family could have easily scanned through both of the medical files at the same time, we read through them individually.

----------  
Patient 721036

No photo

Name: Mabel C. Jackson  
D.O.B.: 15 November 1892  
Gender: Female  
Admission: 27 March 1905  
Doctor: Bernard Daley

Patient was admitted exhibiting strange behaviour. Common manifestations included torture of small animals and extreme outbursts. After confinement, self mutilation became an outlet for her destructive tendencies.  
----------

Carlisle stopped reading there. The file included many more pages of doctor's notes and treatment schedules, but they weren't likely to be any more help than the admission information. It was going to be difficult to tell if this was Alice without a photo, but _torturing small animals_ didn't sound like our Alice.

"I hope that's not me," said Alice in a small voice as she curled into Jasper's side.

Rosalie stood from the table and flitted over to a computer. She returned a few minutes later with a printout. It was a photo of a young woman taken from the obituary section of the Biloxi Sun Herald. The woman looked to be in her late teens to early twenties and had long golden hair; not unlike Rosalie's.

"I think we can rule _Mabel_ out," Rosalie stated matter-of-factly.

Everyone nodded in agreement and Carlisle picked up the second file and began to read it aloud as he had the first.

----------  
Patient 721086

Name: Mary Alice Brandon  
D.O.B.: 3 June 1902  
Gender: Female  
Admission: 26 February 1907  
Doctor: Richard Harris

Patient was admitted suffering from delusions of the mind. The patient was often found in possession of information for which there was no logical explanation for her having. Episodes of psychosis or catatonia were commonly experienced by the patient, sometimes numerous times per day.  
----------

I didn't need much more information to convince me that this file pertained to Alice. The thoughts of the rest of the family agreed with me. Alice's thoughts however, were elsewhere. Looking over at her, I noticed that she was transfixed on a small photograph. It must have fallen from the file when Carlisle picked it up; it was definitely of Alice. In the picture, she had the same short spiky black hair. Apart from the vampiric ones, the only difference between the Alice in the picture and our Alice was a year, three at the most.

The information garnered from Alice's patient file told us that she was committed when she was around five years old as a direct result of her visions. No doubt as a child, she never had the notion to try and hide them. That she had visions even as a human fascinated Carlisle, but he managed to keep it to himself, sensing that precious few others in the family would find this intriguing at present. While at the asylum, Alice was on an assortment of medications and subjected to shock treatments. Towards the end of the file, there was also a less clinical notation from her doctor. He practically admitted to being scared of Alice when he justified separating her from the other patients. The last page in the file was a visitor's log. It was blank. All of this information was deeply disturbing and explained the nightmarish prison Alice's mind had become when her memories were triggered.

Over the next few weeks, we continued attending school to keep up appearances. And everyday, we kept a vigilant watch over Alice lest James and Victoria reappeared; yet they never did. As the weeks passed, we became just as anxious as the human students for the holidays so that we could travel to Mississippi and learn more about Alice's past. The meeting with the wolves had finally been discussed, but it had faded to the background, seemingly unimportant next to all our other happenings.

Some more internet research had uncovered a photograph of Alice's headstone at an online gravestone archive. The dates on her headstone matched her birth and admission dates from her patient file and included the inscription _'Lost to us at a young age.'_ A trip to the Biloxi City Cemetery was added to our itinerary. All of the information thus far uncovered had constricted the area in which the Brandon House could be located such that we were certain we would find it right away.

Eventually, the end of the school term arrived and we were finally on a plane headed from Sea-Tac International to Dallas-Fort Worth International. Then after a four hour layover, we would catch another flight to Gulfport International. When we touched down in Dallas, a typical Cullen family argument broke out. Rosalie wanted to drive the rest of the way to Biloxi, but I thought that it would be faster to fly. It would take only six hours via aeroplane including the layover, but nine hours by car; for a human at least. Rosalie was convinced we could shave more than three hours off that journey. For once, Rosalie didn't get her way and we continued as planned. She was somewhat assuaged when I turned the thirty minute drive from the airport to our hotel into a fifteen minute one.

Due to constraints placed upon us by the weather, once we checked in at the Grand Biloxi Casino, we had to stay indoors. Emmett and I passed the time gambling. Or rather Emmett did while I made sure that he wasn't drawing too much attention to himself and passed the time by refusing to help him cheat, no matter how much he begged. In the meantime, the girls booked themselves into the spa for some much needed downtime while Carlisle and Jasper holed up in the business lounge for the afternoon and continued to research Alice's past.

Once the sun had almost totally disappeared, we set out in search of the house. We found it very quickly. It was a little rundown, I hadn't noticed that in the photograph, and had a 'for sale sign' out the front. After a quick scout of the area, Emmett and I couldn't detect James' presence and deemed it safe. During all of this, Alice stood frozen in place in front of the house, clearly willing herself to remember a more pleasant memory from her human life.

"You were only five when you last saw this house," Esme whispered to Alice, trying to soothe her.

"I know, but I just wish that I could remember it," sighed Alice.

'_We'll have to buy this for Alice,'_ thought Jasper.

The double storey wooden home appeared to be vacant so a quick sale should be easy to arrange, especially with an extra monetary incentive for both the realtor and vendor. No sooner had the thought graced Jasper's mind when Alice started bouncing up and down, clapping her hands as she squealed.

"Ooh! That's a great idea, Jazz; it has the perfect number of bedrooms. It's much smaller than we're used to but it'll be great for a short stay!"

"We're going to live in that?" Rosalie asked incredulously as Esme shot her a warning look.

"Yes."

"Well, I'm not," Rosalie pouted.

"Actually you are. I can see what colour you're going to paint your bedroom and I think you should choose a shade darker."

**------------------------------**

In record time, all of the paperwork was settled and we were the proud owners of an 1870s wooden house in Biloxi, Mississippi. Luckily for us, we were blessed with some overcast weather and were able to quickly complete our renovations without drawing too much attention from the neighbours. The hunting wasn't as good as Forks (the local forest only offered us deer) and the house was _much_ smaller than our Forks home but we were still comfortable.

During the hours that Jasper and Carlisle had spent glued to computer screens over the past week, they hadn't uncovered much new information. Their prize discovery was Alice's obituary, which included another photo of her. She was a tiny child with elfin features and long straight black hair that fell below her waist. After some wrangling with the newspaper's archivist, Jasper was able to procure a copy of the photograph. It, along with the photograph from her patient file, went into a small box where Alice was accumulating everything from her human life. The obituary notice itself wasn't overly illuminating, but it did reveal that Alice had a younger sister named Cynthia. Jasper quickly learned that some of Cynthia's descendants still lived in Biloxi.

The next day, Jasper and Alice gathered up all the information that we had discovered about her human past and went to visit Alice's human family. It was an impressive offering including many newspaper articles and photos as well as an extensive family tree. Posing as a distant relative researching her heritage, Alice was able to persuade the Brandon's and Whitfield's to let her scan the photos they had. Vivian Brandon, by a stroke of magnificent luck, had held off throwing out Cynthia Brandon's diaries in the previous year's spring cleaning and willingly gave them to Alice; especially when she saw the family resemblance. These tomes chronicled over fifty years of Cynthia's life. Alice's visit to the Whitfield's was just as fruitful because they were planning a large garage sale. They were more than happy to give Alice free reign to select whatever items she wanted from those they were planning to sell and tried in vain to cut her and Jasper a generous deal.

It took a little while for her to work up the courage, but eventually, Alice and Jasper went to visit her grave. This was something that I just couldn't fathom. No one else in the family had visited their grave; I was fairly certain that Carlisle didn't even have one! Everyone was expecting Alice to return from this trip sombre, but we weren't prepared for her reaction or for Jasper's. Jasper burst into the house with his body wrapped protectively around Alice's. His eyes were darting in every direction and his thoughts were a contorted and panicked mess. Alice was only slightly more composed as she clutched a piece of thick parchment to her chest.

"What happened?" asked Carlisle as he quickly took control of the situation.

"We found her grave," Jasper recounted. "It appeared to be well tended. There were fresh flowers and this sketch," he explained, gesturing to the parchment Alice was clutching.

"Sketch?" queried Esme.

Alice nodded and unfolded the thick parchment to show us the sketch. It was of a sleeping teenage girl. She appeared peaceful yet somehow troubled as her fingers curled slightly around the bed sheets. Short spiky black hair framed her delicate features, set in a petite pixie-like face. This was a sketch of Alice, a sketch of Alice sleeping, from when she was human.

"What does it say?" asked Rosalie.

The whole family turned to her in confusion.

"Underneath," she clarified.

Everyone turned back to the sketch held in Alice's trembling hands. Our attention had been so absorbed by the sketch itself that we'd failed to notice the inscription underneath.

_Found your way home._

Jasper was furious. He already knew that James was behind the sketch and the flowers, his scent had been all over Alice's grave. Rosalie and Emmett immediately wanted to hunt James down and tear him to shreds. Jasper's thoughts were also headed in a similar direction, but less rash as the strategist within him won out. Carlisle and Esme were resigned, they were such gentle people, but even they recognised that James had to go. I was vacillating somewhere between Emmett's and Jasper's reactions. Nothing would please me more than destroying James, but I was sensible enough to realise that we needed a plan.

As the family felt threatened by James' presence in Biloxi, we all hunted regularly in the De Soto National Forest, gorging ourselves on the deer to keep at full strength. Each time we returned, we would discover a new sketch of Alice left on our doorstep. This was worrying and we agreed that no one should travel alone. With each new sketch that James left us, we discovered a little bit more about Alice's past. James clearly knew her from her time at the asylum; he was able to get very close to her, judging by some of the images.

Returning from gorging ourselves on yet another hunt, we were preparing to return to Forks. James was just toying with us and the new school term was due to start soon. We didn't want to break from our human charade, despite the danger. Attracting attention from the Volturi was the last thing we needed; we were especially mindful due to Alice's earlier vision of Demetri's visit. Just as we had come to expect, we were greeted by another thick piece of parchment sitting on the doorstep. Jasper wordlessly scooped it up and went into the living room.

This time, James hadn't left us a sketch. Today it was a poem, perhaps he knew that we were returning to Forks tomorrow. Jasper read the poem aloud to the family:

_Asleep in darkness;  
Alluring scent,  
Divine;  
Watching and waiting, finally,  
Mine._

_Hidden in the dark;  
Abused and beaten,  
Swollen;  
Rescued and hidden,  
Stolen._

_Loving my desire;  
Camouflaged __as a lie,  
Employed;  
Revenge must be taken,  
Destroyed._

_Hunting by vocation;  
Only one prey has ever gotten,  
Away;  
Remedied this shall be, and you shall have no,  
Say._

This perverse poem gave clear indication of James' past acquaintance with Alice, and his intentions. James was drawn by her scent, finding her at the asylum. The third verse was less clear. But it appeared that someone loved Alice and James destroyed them for that love. The final verse was the most sinister. Alice was the only one to escape James' clutches and he planned on remedying that. As the final words were read aloud, every member of the family let escape a low yet still savage growl.

* * *

**A/N: **Reviewers are worshipped.

This story has been accepted on Twilighted. A big compliment... I will be submitting the chapters there as soon as they are beta'd.

16-July-2009  
27-September-2009 -- beta'd


	10. 09 x La Mort de James

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

This perverse poem gave clear indication of James' past acquaintance with Alice and his intentions. Alice was the only one to escape James' clutches and he planned on remedying that.

**Chapter ****nine: La Mort de James**

Alice's POV

The flights back to Forks were tense and Jasper was suffering in the emotional climate. My terror could not have been helping him in the slightest, but he stoically refused to leave my side. Everything I had discovered about my past had been terrible. In some ways, I was glad to finally know about my past, while at the same time, I wished that I still remembered nothing of it. But more than that, I was annoyed at myself. I hadn't seen this coming, I hadn't seen the danger that this would expose my family to.

"It's not your fault, stop blaming yourself," Edward tried to soothe my guilty thoughts.

I didn't bother to reply; he could hear what I was thinking. But I felt the worst for Edward. I knew how terrifying the memories triggered by my human possessions had been. It had taken me days to escape them and Edward had had to suffer along with me.

"Really, Alice," Edward tried again. "No one cares about any of it; we just want you to be safe."

Sometimes, I wondered what I ever did to deserve such a wonderful family. Rather than trying to work it out, I just snuggled into Jasper's side, taking comfort in his presence. His arm constricted around me reflexively and I felt him relax a little. My emotions must be calming also. I resolved to try harder to see what was to come; my family needed my help to destroy James.

Edward's POV

'_Thankyou,_' Jasper thought to me. I could sense through his thoughts that Alice was finally beginning to relax.

Once we arrived back in Forks, we held what could only be described as a war council. Jasper once again took control and between him and Carlisle, the rest of us didn't need to do much at all. It was decided that we would return to school as planned, since we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. The five of us should be safe at school; our main concern was Carlisle and Esme. Eventually, it was agreed that Carlisle would call the hospital, claiming that Esme was sick and insist that he stay home to care for her. It was a flimsy excuse, but the only other alternative was that Esme go to the hospital everyday and that was even less plausible.

Everyone was satisfied that the age old maxim, safety in numbers, would be sufficient to keep us safe. We instead turned our attention to making sure that James would not be safe for much longer. Jasper and I were certain that he would follow us back to Forks and most likely continue to leave sketches and poems for Alice when we went hunting. This was what would give us the opportunity to catch him. We weren't naïve enough to think we would catch him by surprise at our doorstep, but we were sure that we would be able to track his scent.

Sunday night, before we returned to school, the whole family went hunting. The predators that were available to us here were a welcome change from the deer of De Soto and everyone gorged themselves. When we returned home, James proved himself to be comfortingly predictable, leaving another sketch of Alice on the doorstep. Jasper almost smiled as he realised that James the tracker wasn't used to being tracked himself and that this simple fact would work in our favour. As per Jasper's plan, we collected the sketch and entered the house and prepared for the next day.

School on Monday passed slower than usual. Jasper made sure to walk Alice to each of her classes and by lunchtime, she was starting to get irritated by his over protectiveness. This in turn frustrated Jasper, who was just trying to keep her safe, causing him to have trouble separating his emotions from Alice's. When we returned home, Jasper, Emmett and I picked up James' scent from the last delivery and tracked it for several miles before returning home.

Tuesday was a little tense. When I was walking with Alice to gym, we both thought we saw a flash of red in the trees. Was it Victoria? Or were we just being ridiculous? Alice begged me not to mention it to Jasper.

Wednesday was much the same. We went to school like usual and then hunted in the evening. Thankfully, there were no more sightings of red hair so Alice was able to relax some. Owing to the incredibly tense situation we found ourselves in, Jasper didn't seem to notice Alice's temporary increase in tension.

Of course, James had visited our house again. Rosalie picked the piece of parchment up, while Emmett made ridiculous and zipped around the house at an impossible speed, ensuring that it hadn't been entered. It hadn't; James had no interest in our house. Carlisle filed the new sketch away with the others and the family split up to try and relax and pass the time with something enjoyable. It didn't take long for Emmett's anxiety to ruin the chess match he and Jasper were attempting.

Thursday was more of the same. School dragged, to use a modern aphorism, and when we arrived home Jasper, Emmett and I again tracked James' scent for a few miles. Jasper was correct in his assumptions about James. Although this trail and the one from Monday night seemingly followed completely different routes, after about thirty miles or so, they converged. We would soon know exactly where James was. On Friday night, the family hunted again. We were closing in on James; even though he didn't know it yet, and we wanted to stay as strong as possible. When we arrived home, we were expecting the piece of parchment and more of James' disturbing prose.

_I have missed what is mine;  
The scent so divine;  
Blood like wine;  
No longer can I dine;  
It is my opine;  
That you very soon will be,  
Mine._

_I will reclaim what is mine;  
Through a plan so vulpine;  
Using a tine;  
In conjunction with dyne;  
It is my opine;  
You will be broken but eternally,  
Mine._

This poem was nothing more than a threat. It didn't help us at all; it didn't teach us anything new. The next two weeks carried on much the same: we went to school, Carlisle continued to claim that Esme was sick and remained home with her and every three or fours days, the whole family went hunting. Every time we returned from hunting, there was a new sketch of Alice left for us to find and a new trail for Jasper, Emmett and I to follow. Finally, James' impatience started to show and he left another poem instead of a sketch one Saturday night.

_My patience is starting to wain__;  
My plan is starting to gain,  
Momentum;  
The object of my desire is in sight;  
The conclusion will be downright,  
Gruesome._

_The rules are changing;  
The outlook is brightening,  
Nicely;  
The chase I soon will miss;  
I do not look upon this,  
Kindly._

As Rosalie finished reading the poem, my stomach dropped and a collective shiver travelled through every vampire in the room. Alice's thoughts were panicked even though she was certain that Jasper would protect her. That thought opened the floodgates, letting loose her fears of Jasper getting injured while protecting her, which served to only further terrify her. The feelings and emotions invoked in Jasper were incredibly powerful and his legs almost buckled from the onslaught of emotions the family was emitting. It took Carlisle's calm reassurances to remind everyone that it had been months since James started stalking Alice and he hadn't come close to her once. Alice and I, however, knew better and exchanged a look so brief that no one else in the family noticed. Victoria _had_ gotten close.

After the family had dispersed, I sat at my piano and started to play as my mind ran over the poem, looking for its meaning. It was interesting that James' prose seemingly changed according to his purpose. The poems that were merely threats followed a very simple rhyming structure. The first poem and this more recent one were slightly more complex and were designed to convey specific pieces of information. This latest poem was warning us that James was sick of waiting and about to make his move.

**----------****--------------------**

Alice's POV

This most recent poem from James was disturbing and made me shiver. It seemed to forebode what was coming; it was a warning. I had never wished for a vision so much as I did now. In vain, I had been trying for weeks to pin down James' plans or at the very least, his location, but without success. Carlisle's infuriatingly logical conclusion was that James had some knowledge of how my visions worked. Edward and I had scoured my file from the asylum, seeking any indication that my doctors had figured out how my visions worked. But there was none. Generally, I just seemed to creep them out. So how could James know?

We all piled into Edward's Volvo on our way to yet another day of scholastic hell and I couldn't remember why I had been excited to return to school a few months ago. Edward turned and gave me a stern look through the rear vision mirror. No doubt he had heard my thoughts turn melancholy. I just sighed. It was my fault that everyone's lives had become filled with worry and fear. Carlisle has had to practically quit his position at the hospital because we are scared to leave any member of the family alone. Esme's life had been impacted also; she couldn't leave the house, in case someone saw her and wondered why Carlisle hadn't returned to work.

My day was filled with classes that I gave little or no attention and so my thoughts continued to dwell on how much my presence was ruining my family's lives. Halfway though lunch, I was finally blessed with a vision. Thankfully, I had been blocking my thoughts from Edward, even if only to prevent him from listening in to my self pity, and so he did not discover its contents. I saw Carlisle in surgery, then I saw Esme with a phone being thrust into her hands; she was being restrained by a vampire. Finally, I saw myself outside the cafeteria answering my phone and then crumpling to the ground. There were no students around me and only fifteen minutes of lunch left; this was going to happen very soon. I had to do something. No one had noticed me slip into a vision so I picked up my tray and dumped the contents into a bin.

"Where are you going?" asked Jasper as he made to follow me.

"Outside for some fresh air and then to class," I replied simply, while doing my best to throw off don't-follow-me-outside vibes in Jasper's general direction.

I arrived outside the cafeteria without Jasper so I must have succeeded. I didn't have to wait long before my phone buzzed. Putting it to my ear, I listened to the instructions the vampire on the other end gave me, and then slipped away from the school and my siblings.

Jasper's POV

As I saw Alice rise from the table and throw her uneaten props in the bin, I wanted to join her while asking where she was going.

"Outside for some fresh air and then to class," she answered primly.

She was throwing off some serious irritation and frustration so I slipped back into my chair in defeat. Alice was a free spirit and I liked to control everything around me; the stress of the last few months was causing me to practically smother her with my over protective nature. I knew that Alice was quite capable of taking care of herself and that we were only moments away if anything should happen to her. That simple fact and the foul mood she was in were enough to convince me that should another vampire attempt to interrupt her just now, it would be the last thing he ever does. Pushing something slimy and of an undefinable colour around my tray, I settled down to wait out the rest of the lunch period. I did my best to ignore the waves of sympathy coming from my family.

Sitting in history class, my torture was relieved by a sharp knock at the door. My teacher answered it and was greeted by Edward, who spoke hurriedly in a hushed voice. I didn't hear everything he said because one phrase stuck out and took root in my mind.

"…family emergency…" I heard Edward say.

Before the teacher had a chance to call me over, I was practically out the classroom door. Thankfully, Edward had the presence of mind to make the apologies required to maintain our human charade. As soon as the classroom door was closed, I whirled around in the corridor to face him and demanded to know what was going on.

"I can't hear Alice," he said.

That was all I needed. I raced to her classroom, too fast for mortal eyes to see. She wasn't there. Disappearing into the woods that crept up to the edge of the school, I took cover and pulled out my phone and tried to call her. No answer. By the time Edward, with Emmett and Rosalie close on his heels, found me, I was so terror stricken that I could barely function.

"Have you tried calling her?" Edward asked calmly.

_Had I tried calling her? What sort of question was that? Of __course I had tried calling her! She didn't answer her phone. I don't know where she is. I don't know where she could have gone._ Edward cut my frenzied thoughts off.

"Let's call Carlisle. Maybe she just went home," he reasoned.

"She was pretty pissed at lunch," Rosalie agreed.

Edward pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Carlisle. After a few rings, I heard the phone go to voicemail; Carlisle's phone was switched off. What did that mean? Edward hung up and tried another number. My terror started to increase again as I heard Esme's voicemail message start. Edward frowned as he hung up and tried the house. One… two… three… four… five… six… seven rings and still no answer. Something was very wrong. No one spoke a word as we all turned towards the house and started running.

"Rosalie, go back and get my car," instructed Edward as he tossed Rose his car keys. My mind was almost too frantic to register and marvel at how well she took Edward's order.

Arriving at the house did nothing to allay our fears. There was evidence of a struggle out front and we could smell the fresh scents of James and Victoria. Had Alice seen something and come to help? Wouldn't she have come to me for help?

"It's possible, Jasper, we don't know what happened," Edward soothed.

"You should see the family room," Emmett growled as he exited the house.

Those words were enough for Edward and I to realise that absolutely nothing good had happened here this afternoon. Again, no communication was necessary as the three of us started to track James' and Victoria's scents. We could also smell Esme. The trail twisted and turned through the forest, heading towards no particular destination.

"Focus, Jasper," snapped Edward. "We've been following trails like these for weeks. We know what direction he's gone in!"

Edward was right. The three of us immediately altered our course and ran to the point roughly thirty miles away from our home where all of James' trails converged. From there, we continued tracking the scent and soon caught up with a fresh trail. We could no longer smell Victoria or Esme, but Alice's scent had appeared alongside James'. The realisation that James had lured my Alice into a trap caused the venom to flow as my body prepared itself for battle; my vision was framed in a deep crimson colour. I was barely capable of coherent thought as I raced towards _my_ Alice, although a part of my mind did register Edward's look of concern.

I pushed myself faster as the trail became fresher; Edward matched my new pace while Emmett started to fall behind. A few miles later, the scents became so strong that we knew we were almost upon them.

"Do you have a plan?" Edward asked, looking over at me.

I didn't have a plan. The only plan was to get to Alice, nothing else mattered. Somewhere in my mind, I recognised that I was crazed and not thinking my actions through as I normally would, but I couldn't convince myself to care. Edward would have heard all of that in my thoughts; I didn't need to answer him. My manners however, demanded that I acknowledge him verbally and I was just about to when I felt it: a powerful wave of emotions. There were feelings of fear, desperation, defeat, elation, triumph, excitement, and joy all mixed in together.

'_I'm coming, Alice,'_ I thought.

And then I saw them. James had Alice pinned to a rock and was twisting her arm. The sickening crunch and snap of vampire flesh was the last thing that I remembered.

Edward's POV

'_I'm coming__, Alice,'_ Jasper thought. His thoughts were frenzied and snarled together.

Looking through Jasper's thoughts, everything was tinged with red as he ripped James away from Alice. Emmett's thoughts betrayed that he desperately wanted to help Jasper tear James to shreds, but we both knew that this fight belonged to Jasper. In the split second Jasper had taken to catalogue Alice's injuries, James had recovered and was now prepared to fight. Somewhere in the periphery, I could hear the garbled mess that was Victoria's thoughts. She was torn between wanting to help James and her instincts to run. Assessing the severity of the situation, she knew that James would not survive this and nor would she if she attempted to help.

Concluding that Victoria would not pose a threat, I gathered Alice into my arms and focused on Jasper's thoughts while Alice righted her injuries. While circling James, he was comparing every move made to those from the ruined fight from a few weeks ago. Now that he knew Alice was safe with Emmett and me, he had become the strategist again. Jasper's mind was fascinating when he was fighting and I had never been privy to this side of his mind before; he never thought like this when he wrestled with Emmett and me. Both he and James were moving closer and then stepping back and feinting to the side, searching for weaknesses. I knew that James would find none and was surprised by how many more openings for attack Jasper had perceived when compared to my own analysis.

This dance continued for a full five minutes before Jasper had decided that he had learned enough about his opponent. When he finally sprang at James, he took him off guard as he twisted one of James' arms sharply. James' thoughts now betrayed his understanding of just how serious his situation was. Up until now, he had still been quite assured of his victory. Having one's arm torn off was obviously quite sobering. Tossing the arm aside, Jasper continued to circle James. For an instant, I heard Victoria's thoughts come nearer but then she retreated back into the woods just as James lost his other arm. Without his arms, James couldn't defend himself and it took less than thirty seconds for Jasper to completely dismember him.

When he was finished, Jasper came and claimed Alice from my arms, and she clung to him as though her life depended upon it. Emmett and I gathered the pieces and started the fire. As a plume of purple smoke snaked up into the sky, I could no longer hear Victoria's thoughts.

* * *

**A/N:** Some kind reviewers convinced me that my poetry wasn't completely awful and once a sadistic vampire commits to making threats through prose it doesn't make sense to stop at just one.

21-July-2009  
29-September-2009 -- beta'd


	11. 10 x Beware, My Esme

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

Eventually it was agreed that Carlisle would call the hospital claiming that Esme was sick and insist that he stay home to care for her. Everyone was satisfied that the age old maxim, safety in numbers, would be sufficient to keep us safe.

**Chapter ****ten: Beware, My Esme**

Carlisle's POV

Esme and I were startled when my phone rang. The only reason one of the children would ring was if there were problems. I retrieved my phone and answered it.

"Hello, Carlisle Cullen speaking."

"Carlisle?" cried the voice at the other end. "I'm really sorry to call while your wife is sick, but there's an emergency at the hospital."

"What sort of emergency?"

"A young man has been brought in with serious injuries, both internal and external; they're haemorrhaging. Dr. Gerandy is already in surgery and if you can't come, I'm afraid he won't make it."

This was the very reason that I became a doctor, to give back despite what fate has dealt me. When I was able to use my vampiric gifts to save someone's life, that was what made this existence worthwhile for me. Admittedly, this young man might survive just by having a surgeon available, but today, that was me.

I gave a hesitant yet pleading look to Esme. She knew how much my work meant to me, but it was selfish of me to want to leave her alone and unprotected while I went and stitched up a human. Sensing immediately what I needed, she mouthed the word 'Go' to me.

"It's alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," I assured the caller.

"Thank you," the nurse replied before the line cut off.

I returned my phone to its pocket as I turned to Esme, demanding to know whether she truly was ok with being left alone; even just for a few hours. Rather than replying, she just smiled and shook her head and gently pushed me out the door. Despite the strong front she projected, I knew her too well not to notice the undercurrent of fear in her actions. I also knew her well enough not to argue.

"Remember to drive at a human speed," she said, "It won't help anyone if you arrive so quickly that you cannot explain it."

It was with those last words that I left Esme and drove down the highway at a painfully slow, yet acceptably human speed. When I arrived at the hospital, I was met by several relieved faces that started to fill me in on my patient.

"…animal attack…"

"…hypovolemic shock…"

"…weak…"

"…already prepped…"

"…waiting…"

I was practically dragged to one of the hospital's operating rooms where I scrubbed up at a sluggish human pace. It wasn't until I was standing over the young man's heavily anaesthetised body that I was able to gauge the severity of his injuries for myself. Animal attack was a generous description; it looked as though he had been put through a shredder, the way ribbons of flesh had been separated from his body. I leant forward to begin putting this young man together when I smelled it; the distinctive scent of a vampire. It was too late to do anything now, I realised in panic. I was already here and I definitely couldn't leave until I had finished operating. I had left Esme unprotected…

Esme's POV

The last two months had been hard on the whole family. Edward and Jasper were blaming themselves for allowing James to get near Alice. Both of them felt they should have sensed some forewarning of the recent events with their gifts. In the meantime, on top of fretting about why she didn't see any of this coming, Alice was doubting whether she deserved to be a part of the family. Emmett barely cracked a joke anymore, and although she tried to hide it, Rose was struggling with the idea of not being able to protect her family. And Carlisle… there just weren't words.

I had been _sick_ and Carlisle had taken the last two weeks off work to care for me. If the situation wasn't resolved soon, it would materially damage the lives we'd created here in Forks. The only moderately positive thing that I could find in the whole experience was that I was with Carlisle. More importantly, I was _alone_ with Carlisle and we found plenty of things to fill our time with while the children were at school.

We were both surprised and a little worried when Carlisle's phone rang. The children were at school, the only reason they would call was if something had happened. Exchanging puzzled, yet worried looks with each other, Carlisle answered his phone.

I could see the indecision on Carlisle's face. On one hand, this was why he went to work each day, to make a difference, while on the other hand, he didn't want to leave me alone while James was stalking Alice. I knew he would stay with me, if that was what I wanted, but I couldn't be that selfish. Banishing the thought, I mouthed the word 'Go' to my husband.

"It's alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," he told them.

"Thank you," they replied before the line cut out.

Sliding his phone back into his pocket, Carlisle rounded on me and demanded to know whether I was sure. He would stay if I wanted him to. Of course I wanted him to stay, but if he could save this boy's life… that was more important. I would be safe here; there were only a few short hours before school was let out for the day. So, I just smiled and shook my head as I pushed him out the door.

"Remember to drive at a human speed," I said, "It won't help anyone if you arrive so quickly that they cannot explain it."

I leant my head against the closed front door, listening to the tyres of Carlisle's Mercedes crunch on the gravel drive. A few moments later, I heard the car turn onto the highway, and its sounds were lost even to my vampire hearing. Never would I admit it to Carlisle, certainly not when he could save that poor boy, but I was scared. I didn't want to be left alone while James was on the loose. Up until now, he hadn't ventured near the house while anyone was home, but his last poem betrayed his growing impatience. If there were a time when he may risk coming to the house when it was occupied, it would be now. But I calmed myself by remembering that there was no way that James could know that I had been left alone.

Resolving to fill my time with something productive, I turned to make my way to my studio and gasped at the scene in front of me. I hadn't noticed while my mind had been caught up in its own thoughts, but James and Victoria stood before me. Victoria's eyes were darting in every direction and James stood stock still with a small, but victorious smile on his lips.

"Hello, Esme, wasn't it?" he greeted me in a conversational tone.

I didn't move. I _couldn't_ move. James walked up to me casually as though we were meeting in totally different circumstances. After circling my trembling body once, he reached out and stroked the length of my cheekbone, continuing down the side of my face. I tried to suppress my shiver, but he must have caught it, for his smile widened.

"Now Esme, I want you to do something for me," James crooned while twisting a lock of my hair between his fingers.

I was still frozen. I still couldn't move. I'd been in a position similar to this before. Memories of being unable to fight or being unable to do anything except submit started to float through my mind. If it were possible for a vampire, I would be heading into a full blown panic attack this instant.

"Dial Alice's cell," James instructed softly as he thrust a phone into my hands.

No! My mind screamed. It had taken me decades to deal with the trauma and the guilt of my human husband's abuse, but I had gotten past it. James would not have that same power over me. He had no power to wield over me.

"No, I won't help you," I stated with vehemence, meeting James' gaze.

My defiance obviously surprised him, but it also amused him which was a serious blow to my confidence. With a blindingly fast movement, he and Victoria had me pinned to the floor, it was painful and I couldn't move. His smile and next words completely disarmed me, and I reverted to the abused woman who struggled to escape her drunkard of a husband. Why did I always bring this on myself? His eyes silently told me that I had no choice but to obey.

"Why be like that?" James crooned, "I asked so nicely."

This time when the phone was held out to me, I took it without complaint and dialled Alice's number. It scared me how quickly I had capitulated. In vain I hoped that Alice wouldn't answer even though I knew how unlikely that was. There was nothing more that I could do. I couldn't protect my family. A failure, I was broken and slumped back to the floor in acquiescence. I listened with apathy as James intimated instructions to Alice, all the while threatening my safety to ensure her compliance. Time ceased to hold any meaning for me. Victoria gave a sharp kick to my side, trying to get my attention; evidently she had been trying for some time without any success.

"Esme," James warned.

In response to James' gentle disapproval, I sprung to my feet ready, to do whatever was asked of me. All fight had left me; I had already lost everything. Broken, I trailed obediently behind James and Victoria as we left the house and began to trek through the forest to meet Alice. Before we met up with her however, Victoria and I broke away and journeyed to a nearby cave that I had never laid eyes upon before. Obediently, I sat in the corner curling my legs up into my chest to wait for James' return.

Victoria paced around the mouth of the cave in the flighty nervous manner that I was becoming all too accustomed to. Eventually she turned to me, visibly annoyed at my compliance.

"Is that it?" she hissed in my direction.

I just blinked at her in confusion.

"After all your talk of how you are a family, you just give her up?" Victoria continued, "She really is more trouble than she's worth."

Her snide words were enough to snap me out of my stupor. Alice was family and she was definitely worth it. A feral snarl sounded from somewhere nearby as a crimson haze descended over my vision. Before Victoria could even move, I was on her back, biting and scratching like a wild animal. The swiftness of my attack left no room for Victoria to react and my ferocity left her unable to defend herself. It wasn't long before sickening snaps and hisses sounded throughout the cave and I had tossed her disconnected arms aside.

Straightening, I surveyed what I had just done, panting as I sought an influx of unneeded oxygen. I felt sick as I looked down on Victoria's armless body, twitching on the floor of the cave. There were deep scratches and chunks missing from her marble torso and her clothes were a complete mess. Fights were not something that I had ever had to concern myself with before. Usually, either Carlisle diffused the situation entirely or one look at Emmett caused the other vampire to turn tail and flee. Remembering Alice, I ran from the cave towards home as fast as I could. I needed to call the boys and set them on James; despite what I had just done, the power James had just asserted over me was too great for me to take him on alone.

Just before I made it up the porch steps, Rosalie's hard marble body crashed into mine with a deafening sound. I was locked in her vicelike grip for a few minutes before she released me. Opening my mouth to explain the situation to her, I broke down in tearless sobs, remembering my own weakness.

"It's ok," soothed Rose, "They'll get her back. You know Jasper won't let anything bad happen to her."

**------------------------------**

Victoria's POV

James had formulated his plan and as usual, I was happy to assist him. Always, I watched from the sidelines as he tracked his prey, from vampires who offend him to the children of the moon he hunted in Europe. The scent of someone who would suit my purpose interrupted my reminiscing and I began to stalk the young human. Realising that we were too far away from the main trails, I started to create noise hoping to panic him and drive him to the more populated areas. After the loud snap of a branch just behind him, his heart rate and breathing increased dramatically as he quickened his pace back to the main road. The scent of fear and adrenalin was almost too much to bear by the time he made it to the road. Checking to ensure that there would be no witnesses, I pounced.

When I met back up with James, a short run away, I was still licking blood from underneath my fingernails like a cat cleaning her paws. James smirked at my behaviour, my persistence at getting every drop of blood from my hands was evidence enough to assure him that I hadn't fed from my victim. Waiting within earshot of the vampires' house, we listened to one half of the phone call that would call the male away and leave the female vulnerable to attack.

"Remember to drive at a human speed," she said before the male exited the house and drove away in a sleek Mercedes.

This was our cue and we silently entered the house through the back, catching the female completely unawares. As she leaned her head against the front door, my eyes scanned the room, looking for any signs of danger. When she finally turned to face us, utter shock registered on her face as she took us in, noticing our presence for the first time.

"Hello, Esme, wasn't it?" James broke the silence.

She didn't move an inch from where she was standing, instinctively knowing that any attempts at escape were futile. My eyes continued to dart around the room, searching for any possible threats. James walked one calculating lap around her trembling frame and then gently stroked the side of her face in an intimate gesture. With a struggle, I managed to beat down the surge of jealousy. The female shivered in response, causing James' smile to widen.

"Now Esme, I want you to do something for me," James said as he twisted a lock of hair between his fingers. Dropping the lock of hair and thrusting a phone into her trembling hands, "Dial Alice's cell," he instructed her.

"No, I won't help you," she stated, meeting James' gaze defiantly.

We were both stunned by her refusal and had her pinned to the floor in an instant.

"Why be like that?" James crooned, "I asked so nicely."

This time when the phone was offered, her response was more satisfactory. Taking the proffered phone, she dialled. Unmoving, she listened as James gave instructions to the small one called Alice while I whispered threats in her ear to ensure her continued obedience. When it was time to leave, I tried in vain to get her attention. Finally, frustrated, I gave her a sharp kick.

"Esme," James warned her as a flicker of his eyes gave me a similar rebuke.

Her response to James was dumbfounding as she quickly stood and obediently ran between us. Several miles into the forest, we split up. James was to meet Alice while I took the female to a nearby cave to hold her as insurance. When we came to the cave, she curled into a ball in a back corner.

The complete lack of opposition was unnerving, not to mention boring. When we had last spoken to the strange coven, we had been regaled with tales of their camaraderie and familial bonds. Where were those bonds now? Pacing around the mouth of the cave, in an effort to prevent her nonexistent attempt to escape, my frustration hit a crescendo.

"Is that it?" I hissed at her.

This vampire didn't seem to have any survival instincts whatsoever. Her only response was a blank look and a few blinks of confusion.

"After all your talk of how you are a family, you just give her up?" I spat at her in an effort to clarify. "She really is more trouble than she is worth," I added in an aside.

I heard the feral snarl from behind me and then felt the vampire land on my back. There was no other warning, and no chance to defend myself as I crashed to the ground. The frenzied movements as she bit and scratched at me marked her as an inexperienced fighter, something that only served to make this more humiliating. Driven by pure instinct, she ripped my arms from my body and tossed them aside. Up until this point, I had been struggling furiously against her attack, but without my arms, I was now rendered completely defenceless. With as little warning as it started, her attack stopped, and she stood up and away from my mutilated body. Aside from losing my arms, I had suffered extensive damage. There were deep scratches along my back and front while whole chunks of my marble flesh had been torn from my body.

I met her brief but disparaging, disgust laced look before she ran full tilt from the cave. My own instincts kicked in as I rolled to my feet and went in search of my arms. It took several minutes, but I reattached them and replaced much of the flesh that had been gouged from my body. My own wellbeing attended to, my focus shifted to my next priority, James. Running at full speed, I headed towards where I knew he would be, with the one called Alice. I stopped only for a moment as I forced the rank blood of a bear down my throat. Desperate times called for desperate measures, I thought to myself ruefully.

My worst fears were confirmed when I discovered James fighting with the tall blonde vampire that was Alice's mate. He was an even more skilled fighter than the pattern of scars across his skin advertised; James was in trouble even though his addled brain had yet to acknowledge that fact. I desperately wanted to help him, but in my weakened state… I spied Alice clinging to one of her coven like a small child. Seeing the two other males; the big one and the unmated one, made up my mind. I ran.

When I was satisfied that I had put enough distance between myself and the coven, I turned and looked back, hoping in vain to catch sight of James having fled behind me. I was greeted instead by a thick plume of purple-tinged smoke curling up into the sky. My James was dead and the realisation hit me with a force beggaring description.

* * *

**A/N:** Hopefully the different points-of-view aren't too much this time. I made a conscious effort to ensure I didn't hop around too much.

And for those of you who are wondering about my advertised plot _the others_ turn up next chapter. I've spent a lot of time trying to ensure that they slot seamlessly into my alternate Twilight universe. This is intended to be an alternate storyline that is entirely plausible in SM's created world so I want their inclusion to affect everything else as little as possible.

27-July-2009  
09-October-2009 -- beta'd


	12. 11 x Seeking An Audience With Revenge

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

A thick plume of purple-tinged smoke curled up into the sky. My James was dead and the realisation hit me with a force beggaring description.

**Chapter ****eleven: Seeking an Audience With Revenge**

Victoria's POV

James had been my companion for so long. That he could be dead just didn't feel right, but I was looking at the purple smoke that proved it beyond a doubt. My thoughts were drawn to an aching emptiness in my chest, a sensation that I just couldn't explain. As I concentrated on the ache, a wave of utter despair swept over me; so strong that it was debilitating. It would be so easy to just slip into the oblivion of nothingness and eternal loss, but I struggled against it.

As I assessed my options, memories of my time with James ran through my head like images on a movie reel: stalking hapless humans, tracking unfortunate vampires, and pursuing the creatures of myth. A smile momentarily graced my lips as I remembered meeting a vampire named Feliciano. James immediately took a dislike to him and Feliciano quickly turned into another victim. Feliciano was sharp; it took several months for James to catch up with him. But James always caught his prey… he always caught his prey and I always kept him safe.

I had the gift of evasion; I could always find an avenue of escape. That had been our mistake this time. If I had only been with him, I would have found a way out. James would have escaped if he had only stayed with me; if I had only stayed by his side. These last thoughts reverberated through my mind, opening the floodgates to the pain and despair that James' loss had infused in me.

To survive the pain, I latched onto the only thing that could keep me from being swept away – the burning desire for revenge. He would pay for taking my James away. A mate for a mate; it's only fair. I couldn't help but think that it was fitting, even if it wasn't exactly what James planned. My injuries would take a little while to heal fully and I would require help to exact my revenge. There were a few vampires who I could call on for help; still, weighing my options, I decided my best prospect was the Volturi.

All vampires knew of the Volturi: they maintained the order and policed our world. James and I had spared barely a thought for them in the entirety of our existence together, but we'd heard the stories. The strength of the Italian coven was legendary. They had contained the immortal children and quelled the Southern Wars, among other things, but we also heard the whispers. The coven thirsted for power and commonly wiped out larger, gifted covens, removing potential threats and adding to their guard. There was no doubt in my mind that they would be interested in this coven, in its size and their gifts, and the Volturi would obliterate them.

My revenge planned, I was left wondering if maybe my James got what he deserved; very few vampires liked him. I didn't want to feel the pain, what good would it do me now? With his death, we had to say goodbye forever, I would have to try to leave it in the past. To have my revenge, I would have to become someone new; I couldn't merely run away at the first sign of danger.

**------------------------------**

Onyeka's POV

Once the warning was dispatched and enough time allowed to ensure its receipt, we set out to pay the final visit to the Volturi savages. Subira was excited; Yejide and Adaeze were resigned; Dakarai and Euthalia were nervous; and Ebele was indifferent. Our group had been chosen for this task because we were a strong tribe and our bonds extended from our human lives, strengthening us further. We were experienced and gifted warriors despite our peaceful natures; even Subira, the most ferocious among us, was fundamentally a peaceful soul.

Our arrival in Florence signalled the end of the first leg of our journey. We had quit the island in somewhat of a hurry, not wishing to be delayed further by the continuing debate. The result being that we hadn't yet formulated a plan of attack. It didn't matter though; we all knew that no planning could take place until we had surveyed the situation. This was why we were in Italy. We knew that the Volturi savages hid behind their stone walls in Volterra. Their cowardice added difficulty to our task, but not enough to influence the inevitable outcome – the end of the Volturi.

A lingering kiss with Euthalia was my only farewell as I travelled to Volterra. As I ran, my thoughts vacillated between my assignment and my irritation at being separated from her. Just when I had begun to curse the reality that I had been chosen for this mission, rather than one of the unmated vampires in our tribe, I forced myself to remember why I _was_ chosen; my gifts made me particularly suited to reconnoitring. I could influence and fool the senses of those around me; shape illusions, hide items from view; produce aromas, obscure smells; form sounds, conceal conversations; mimic touch, remove sensation; and influence taste. With my ability, I could enter any place completely undetected.

I entered Volterra now and used my gift to mask my passage - my skin didn't reflect light, my footfalls didn't make a sound, and no scent was left in my wake. The daylight hours had not yet waned, so I contented myself with the meagre offering the city had for window shopping while I waited for twilight. Twilight was the safest time for us and it was then that I would find a savage to trail into the Volturi's lair. Looking through shop windows quickly became an unsettling pastime because I cast no reflection as I passed by. It was an interesting discovery that part of the allure of window shopping was the ability to admire my own reflection. Normally, I would be dividing my attention between the displays in the shop window, my soft pale face with my long gently curled hair, the colour of dark liberica (1), and the perfection of my Euthalia by my side. Today, most of the draw was not merely masked, but also absent.

After the sun had finally hidden her face, savages started to emerge into the city proper. Using their scent to retrace the path they took, it was simple to locate the business that acted as the human front for the Volturi's operations. Waiting outside for a few minutes, I located all of the security cameras and plotted a course to the front door, exploiting the blind spots. I didn't know if this was strictly necessary; we hadn't thought to test my ability's effectiveness against modern human technologies. I suspected my gift would not work. My supposition was based upon the simple fact that _most_ vampiric gifts worked on the mind and didn't affect anything physically.

Once in the front door, I quickly jumped and climbed my way to the ceiling; there was far less chance of being caught by a security camera here. Years of practice made me particularly adept at stealing around undetected, so much so that I barely had to use my gift. Another few minutes observing the elevator allowed me to ascertain which floors were used primarily by vampires and I made my way to the third floor via the ventilation system. This part of the building was more archaic than the modern reception area that was completed with a human receptionist. Gone were the vases of flowers, pastel hues and paintings of Tuscan scenery, replaced by dank stone corridors. Much less appealing to look at, but the stones were easier to climb.

The next few weeks were spent like this. I skulked in the shadows, observing the Volturi in their home. The Volturi guard was comprised of all types of vampires, many of whom were gifted, and this was my main priority for this scouting trip – were there any vampires that could pose a threat to us? Usually the answer was no, but there were some very powerful vampires among this group. The small ones, called Jane and Alec, were a good example, feared by the others for their gifts. This didn't make any sense to me until I witnessed Jane unleash her wrath on the one called Afton. Her gift created the illusion of immense pain. I could see it manifest and could have blocked it had I wished, but taking little Jane's powers away would have alerted the Volturi to my presence. Instead, I stayed silent and hidden.

A female named Chelsea possessed a disconcerting gift; she could affect the bonds between vampires. I saw the evidence of her work as I surveilled the Volturi; never had savages gotten along so peacefully with one and another. The thing that was so disturbing about her gift was that she could potentially turn mates against one another. I shuddered at the thought of ever harming Euthalia; she was very gifted herself, but she was not a fighter, if I turned against her, I would destroy her in mere seconds. Quickly, I dismissed those worries; Yejide protected us from such powers.

Aro's perpetual shadow, Renata, was an interesting obstacle. From the jealous whisperings among the guard, I was able to ascertain that she could shield herself and others standing near her from attack – this was the reason for the favour she garnered. When we made our move against the Volturi, Renata would be a potential complication. Because I didn't know how her gift worked, it was impossible to judge whether it would be effective against us. Although it was likely that her defence worked on the mind, there was still the less likely option that she actually generated a physical barrier. This would be infinitely harder to deal with, but I consoled myself that Yejide would be stronger and that in a worst case scenario, Adaeze would stop Renata indefinitely.

Over the nearly three weeks that I spent watching the Volturi, I was forced to endure their _feeding_ no less than five times. After witnessing it once, I was quick enough to learn the signs so that I could avoid being in the room during all of the other feedings while I was there. Savages were repulsive in their feeding habits, but what we had mistaken for the Volturi's civility had actually bred something even more barbaric. A beautiful female vampire, Heidi, was sent _fishing_ once, sometimes twice a week, bringing a busload of tourists into Volterra on the pretence of a tour of the ancient city. In reality, during the course of Heidi's tour of the Volturi's historic castle, they were brought to the main circular chamber. That day was when I discovered the purpose of the large drain in the centre of the room.

The dynamic amongst the Volturi was also very interesting, I observed a clear hierarchy. At the top were the three brothers, Aro, Caius and Marcus, and whenever any official business was attended to, they wore cloaks of the deepest black. Their rank was closely followed by the remaining wives: Sulpicia and Athenodora. Following them were the most gifted of the Volturi, Alec and Jane, who wore cloaks of a grey so dark, it was almost black. Felix, Demetri, Renata and Heidi, among others, came after them in rank and were clad in dark grey cloaks. The rest of the Volturi wore cloaks that were lighter shades of grey.

It was almost time for me to report back to the tribe - I needed to hunt soon - when a wild red-haired savage arrived in Volterra. She was escorted into the large circular room that was used for official business… and feeding… by the burly one; whose name I had learned was Felix. He spent the short walk through the castle, casting looks at the female that made me shudder involuntarily; the female either didn't notice or paid him no mind. Observing the female, I noted that she was covered in recently healed wounds – she had of late been on the losing end of a fight. Savages, I thought with a shake of my head.

Aro and the other brothers received her with all the pomp and ceremony I had grown to expect from them. Why the guard didn't kill him themselves was something that I could not fathom – such an inane creature! After Aro had finally completed his performance, the female, Victoria, was allowed to tell her story. I was fortunate that Aro had such a penchant for theatrics, his ability to learn all of a vampire's thoughts and memories through a single touch made speaking aloud unnecessary. Victoria began by intimating how her mate was a tracker and around eight decades ago, his hunt was thwarted by another vampire. He killed this vampire in vengeance; however, only recently he had again stumbled upon his prey and restarted the hunt. Eighty years was a long time for a human to live… oh, a vampire.

What Victoria conveyed next clouded my vision with the rage-sight; all I could think of was someone attacking _my_ Euthalia. Of course this vampire's mate had destroyed Victoria's mate, James! If he hadn't I certainly would have. Calming myself, I listened as Victoria continued her tale. She wanted revenge for a justified kill? Interesting. The laws regarding mates were instinctual and unwritten – if you messed with a vampire's mate, you were begging for death.

"I ask that you destroy this coven not only for the crime of killing my mate, but also for the threat they pose to all vampires. When our coven met with them, they told us how they live among humans; I believe they pose a significant risk of exposure," Victoria concluded her tale.

After Aro touched Victoria's skin for confirmation of her story, the brothers… _counselled_? I couldn't help but shake my head at how ludicrous they were. It was an interesting sight though, Aro and the one named Caius held strong opinions while the third, Marcus, said nothing at all. Caius was firmly in favour of taking action against the offending coven; I sensed a long held grudge. Aro, on the other hand, continually cited a long friendship with one of the coven members. This wasn't enough in itself to placate Caius, but eventually, he had to give up when Aro pointed out that James had been stalking a vampire's mate. Throughout this, Marcus didn't say a word although near the end, he touched Aro's hand for the briefest of moments; no doubt sharing his thoughts. The threat of exposure was something else that Caius latched onto. He was very determined to wipe out this coven. Again, Marcus said nothing and Aro acted as the voice of reason, dismissing the charge.

"We have counselled," announced Aro as he turned back to his audience. I suppressed a snort, one vampire hadn't said a thing while Aro had overridden any assertions made by the other - there had been no council.

"While we sympathise with your loss, Marcus has informed me of the strength of bond you shared with your mate, the Volturi cannot be party to petty revenge," Aro told Victoria in the same condescending manner you would tell a child not to play with a sharp bone hunting knife.

After saying all of the appropriate niceties, Victoria left, dejected, and I followed soon after. The last few weeks had equipped me with much information about the Volturi. Surprisingly, I now had evidence that perhaps they weren't as bad as we were led to believe from Adaeze's encounter with the guard some forty years ago.

I hunted on my way back to Florence and was refreshed when I met my tribe and conveyed what I had learned. We were all genuinely impressed by Aro's charity. From what we had heard about the Volturi, it was not uncommon for them to destroy larger more powerful covens. The coven described by Victoria certainly fit within that description and Victoria's complaint gave them ample excuse. We also all agreed the friendship that Aro alluded to was another positive development. This strong bond developed with a vampire who was not his mate or through the assistance of Chelsea's gift, signified a departure from the other savages. Aro clearly held the most power of the three heads of the Volturi and his compassion in this case was promising.

"So we leave them be and go back for more _talks_," Subira practically snarled.

"No, we will watch and wait," corrected Yejide on Adaeze's behalf.

As Subira stalked out of the hotel room, Ebele explained Adaeze's reasoning to her mate, Dakarai, and Euthalia. While Adaeze considered this new evidence reason enough to stave off the Volturi's execution, she wanted to be certain that we had our facts straight before we returned to the monotony of discussions, inaction and politics. If what I had witnessed was a true indication of the Volturi's character, then we would tell the others as much. If however, this was an exception to their general behaviour, we would destroy them as we had originally planned. With everyone up to speed, Euthalia and I also slipped out of the room for a proper reunion.

There were sections of Volterra that vampires didn't frequent and later that day, the seven of us made our way there. We settled into a hotel that was not up to our usual standards to continue observing the Volturi, to ascertain whether Adaeze had been mistaken in her assessments all of those years ago. At least I was with Euthalia this time.

Footnotes:  
1. Liberica is a variety of coffee bean from Africa so her hair is brown, basically. I thought it fitting to use something Onyeka would have identified with; we commonly describe brown hair as chestnut so she uses liberica for her simile.

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**A/N:** I know this introduction is brief but these seven new vampires will be introduced properly when they encounter the Cullens, and that's a few chapters away yet. Also, correct pronunciations are on my profile.

29-July-2009  
16-October-2009 -- beta'd


	13. 12 x Victoria's Surveillance

Disclaimer – Twilight and Edward's sparkly ass aren't mine.**

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**

**Previously…**

"While we sympathise with your loss, Marcus has informed me of the strength of bond you shared with your mate, the Volturi cannot be party to petty revenge," Aro told Victoria in the same condescending manner you would tell a child not to play with a sharp bone hunting knife.

**Chapter twelve: Victoria's Surveillance**

Victoria's POV

Once outside the walls of Volterra and a safe distance away, I could express the emotions that self preservation had forced me to keep hidden inside. With anguish, I screamed at the top of my lungs, releasing some of my pent up frustration. That the Volturi had decided not to investigate the Cullens was unfathomable. I had heard the rumours, or more precisely, gossip – I knew that they were true – and couldn't understand how they had turned down the excuse to attack a rival coven the size of the one in Forks.

Dwelling on how uncooperative the Volturi were was not helping. Instead, I resolved to seek out revenge for myself; it would be much more satisfying this way. Travelling back to the United States, I kept myself from making any definite decisions. I knew about Alice's visions; James had explained them to me. As an alternative to anything concrete, I scrolled through all the possibilities, ensuring that I never settled on just one. My other concern was the male with bronze hair. James and I had only suspected it, but when I'd seen James fighting with Alice's mate, it had been confirmed for me. Several times I had hesitated with the choice of trying to help James and his eyes had focused on my exact location. That was impossible unless he could hear my thoughts.

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Alice's POV

I took a deep steadying breath at the completion of the vision. This was a longer and more specific vision than I was used to; this probably meant that it would occur in the very near future with a 99.9% probability. I had just seen Victoria presenting the case for our death to the Volturi. Watching the vision unfold with baited breath, I had been immensely relieved when Aro had decided in our favour. The reprieve was a welcome one, but Victoria had obviously just added to the list of indiscretions someone in the Volturi was preparing to hang over our heads. Using Occam's razor as a basis, it was reasonable to surmise that the same vampire who initiated the vision of Demetri paying us a visit was also vitally interested in the information Victoria provided. Our saving grace was that we hadn't done anything wrong, and so far, Aro agreed.

Later that evening when Edward, Emmett and Jasper had returned from hunting, I related the details of my vision to the whole family – wow was our dining room table getting a workout this year! Everyone was concerned, but relieved that the Volturi basically ruled in our favour; although the emotions in the room were still strong enough to drive Jasper away.

"I agree," Edward said to Carlisle with a nod of his head. Ugh! It was so annoying when people spoke to Edward in their minds. Even though I knew most of those conversations occurred between Edward and myself, I still got annoyed when I was kept out of the loop. It was fine when I did it, but anyone else…

"Can you try and see what Victoria's going to do next?" Carlisle asked, turning to me.

"I'll try," I answered, some of my frustration soothed now I knew what they had been discussing. It only returned though when I couldn't get much more than glimpses of Victoria's future and nothing that would allow me to pinpoint her location.

"Maybe she will leave us alone now the Volturi have decided that we don't have a case to answer?" Esme suggests.

"You always see the light and goodness in people," Edward replied, "I hope you're right this time."

As the family filed out of the dining room, I caught Carlisle giving Edward a look that Edward answered with a slight nod and a tight smile. No doubt thanking him for finding the right words to say to Esme.

The next few months were wholly uneventful. We informed Forks that Esme had recovered from her mystery illness, allowing Carlisle to return to work at the hospital. The rest of us returned to school and I was able to devote most of my time and energy to either the upcoming hospital dinner or to analysing the things I had collected in Biloxi. Photos, although precious, took the least time for me to go through; with one look, I was able to memorise them for all eternity. Jasper and I, however, still took the time to scan and restore each and every one of them just as we had done for the rest of the family's photos.

The jewellery and other heirlooms that we purchased took longer to go through, but not much more. The main problem with these items was that I didn't remember them and had no point of reference for when I looked at them. What had really piqued my interest were my sister Cynthia's journals, but I dreaded reading them. One weekend, I could put it off no longer and I settled down in the centre of my bed and started where Cynthia had started, with the first journal. The entries started in 1910.

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_19th March 1910_

_Today is my seventh birthday and I received from my parents this beautiful journal and the most exquisite doll that ever was seen. My uncle is coming for a birthday dinner so I don't have time to write more but I will write down my thoughts in this journal each and every day.__  
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I couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips when I saw that the next entry was dated sixteen days later…

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_4th April 1910_

_I promised myself that I would write in this journal every day, but I have obviously broken that promise. I thought that I could perhaps just fill in entries for the days that I missed; however, I decided that that would be cheating._

_Instead, I promise that from now on I __will__ write in this journal every day._  
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The entries continued to be inconsistent and random for the rest of the year and were full of renewed vows to write a new entry each day. As time progressed, Cynthia became better at writing every day – even if she only wrote a few lines – and it was easy to see how writing in her journal became part of her daily routine. The next entry that caught my attention was from almost a year after she started the journals.

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_February 26, 1911_

_Today is the anniversary of my big sister Mary's death. I was only four when she died but I still remember little things about her. Like the way she used to brush my hair and how she was always the most enthusiastic whenever we played games. Thinking about her always makes me sad._

_Mother and father have promised to take me to visit her grave today so I am going out to the garden to pick flowers; lots of daisies, I remember they were her favourites.__  
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She remembered me! It took all of my limited self control to stop from leaping from the bed and shouting out loud. I was sad, but happy at the same time that my death caused her pain – I was definitely glad that Jasper wasn't here for my conflicting emotions to mess with him. As I continued to read through her journals, the little snippets of information Cynthia revealed about me on the anniversaries of my death always drew me. I soon found that every time I happened upon one, I read it over a few times ensuring the words were burned into my vampiric memory. But when I got to Cynthia's journal for 1915 – she would have been twelve by this time – the entry on the anniversary of my death was particularly disturbing.

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_26th of February, 1915_

_When I was placing the flowers on Mary's grave today, I remembered something from the day she died. It didn't make sense though, so I asked mother. I remembered that that morning, two men dressed in white came and took Mary away, but they didn't look like they came from the hospital. Then later that day, father sat me down and explained that Mary was gone away to Heaven. I told mother that it was strange because Mary had seemed fine when we played together in the morning. Mother was angry and yelled at me. Fighting with mother just made me even sadder than usual. I'm always sad on the twenty-sixth and it almost always rains; it's like the weather is sad that she's gone as well.__  
_----------

I couldn't help the sobs that tore through my body and I was shaking violently when Edward wrapped his arms around me; Jasper had gone hunting.

"They _sent_ me to the asylum," I sobbed into Edward's chest.

Edward didn't quite know what to say and a few visions containing different combinations of words intended to be soothing flickered through my mind. In the end, Edward decided to stay silent and just hold me and it took a while for me to cry myself out. I was left exhausted, something that is quite a feat for a vampire. Crying without the ability to shed tears wasn't a relief to me in any way.

"We always knew that that was a very real possibility," Edward murmured in my ear when I had finally quietened.

Yes, I did know that. But until I read those words in Cynthia's journal, I had been able to cling to the hope that maybe my committal wasn't my parents' doing. My mother's reaction to Cynthia's questions seemed to suggest that she at least felt badly about it. In 1915, I would have been about fourteen years old so I probably would have still been alive at this time. Yet we knew from my file that no one ever came to visit me during my years at the asylum. I knew that Edward could hear all of these thoughts.

"I know," I whispered into his chest in defeat.

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_17__th__ of May, 1915_

_Thomas visited today and he was deeply upset. Three days ago, his family was notified by the United States Government that his elder brother William was killed when the British liner the Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat. He spent most of his visit telling us how we should be fighting the Germans.  
---------- _

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_April 11th, 1917_

_I received a letter from Thomas today which set me to great unrest. Thomas wrote that he had left home, determined to avenge his brother's death by enlisting in the army. But he is barely sixteen!_

_His letter was incredibly sweet, promising to propose to me on my sixteenth birthday or on the day he returns if I am already sixteen by then. I only hope that he is either turned away by the army for being too young or that he comes safely home. Hopefully, when he asks father for permission to marry me, this impetuousness isn't held against him.__  
_----------

----------  
_11-3-1918_

_Our neighbour, Mrs. Snowdon, visited us last week bringing the most dreadful news; they had just received word that Thomas was killed in an offensive in Argonne, France. Father said that we should thank God that the battle looked like concluding in an Allied victory. All I could think was that Thomas was only just now turned seventeen._

_I haven't written in my journal since that day because I just haven't had the heart. The news itself was just awful, but the reactions from all our friends and neighbours were even worse. Rather than mourning Thomas' life, everyone keeps saying that he never would have died if he hadn't run off to join the army, lying about his age. This is of course all true, but it's still heartbreaking that our friends are so unkind._  
----------

My heart broke for my sister as I read these entries. In sympathy to her situation, the only thing I could think of was how I would feel if Jasper left me. I knew the answer to that without a doubt; I would fall apart. Just as I finished those thoughts, Jasper appeared at my side pulling me into his arms as he leant against the headboard.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll never leave you," he whispered to me soothingly.

When the waves of calm Jasper was bathing me in had no effect on my emotional state, I began to realise just how much this was affecting me; losing Jasper was my biggest fear. Listening to the soothing words he was chanting again and again and a deep breath of the scent that was uniquely Jasper allowed me to start calming myself down.

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_Monday the 26th of February, 1924_

_Usually on this day I am sad because I remember that my sister is gone and how wonderful she was to me. But today I just cannot be sad, it is the strangest thing. Last week I had a dream of a man - it wasn't an unchristian dream - and it occurred during the day. I just knew that this man was a large part of my future happiness. Today I met him as I walked home from the cemetery, his name is Matthew._

_This strange intuition reminds me so much of Mary. She used to just know things with such certainty, it was uncanny - when the milk would be delivered, what would be in the mail, things like that. Mostly it was harmless, but I remember the week before she died she tried to tell our father about a fire at the Jackson place. But when father asked, there had been no fire. Mary was punished for telling stories, but the day before she was taken away there was a fire at the Jackson place and old Edith Jackson died._

_What happened to Mary is probably why I never tell anyone the reason I bring the washing in just before it starts to rain or why I always get the best prizes from the lucky dip. If I know something, that everyone else can't work out or learn for themselves, I keep it to myself. It was a hard lesson to learn, but so far I have saved myself from Mary's fate.__  
_----------

I was shocked that my sister seemed to have possessed the same gift as me and her journal entry gave me some insight into what my life must have been like living with visions. My naivety got me committed though; speaking out about the fire I had seen in a vision was obviously the last straw for my parents who were scared of my visions. I could, however, take solace in the fact that my sister was able to live her life, because seeing what had become of me, she decided to keep her visions to herself.

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_12th of January, 1947_

_I had another waking dream today. Usually it is just small things like who will visit in the afternoon or what the weather will be like tomorrow but today it was something big. I saw two of the most beautiful people that possibly ever existed, talking. The woman was petite and had hair cut to a strange length, making it stick out in every direction and the man was tall with blonde hair. If the woman were less beautiful and didn't have quite such an eccentric hair style, I could have sworn she was me. But I'm quite certain that it was Mary, I know it's not possible and she would be in her mid-forties by now if she were still alive, but I just know it was her. Perhaps these visions have finally made me mad or it is just my mind trying to comfort me over what happened to my sister, but she looked so happy and I feel as though I no longer need to mourn her loss; she had found her Matthew.__  
_----------

After I read this entry, all I could do was clutch the journal to my chest.

------------------------------

Victoria's POV

I had been stalking around Forks for months and I hadn't seen even a single opening to get near Alice. Watching from afar, she spent time at the coven's house, she went to school, she hunted, and all the while, another member of the coven was always with her. Her habits had changed considerably since I had started to shadow her. When once she would flit around the small town as a ball of energy, she now just sat in her room reading from a stack of books. It would be pathetic if it were not so infuriating!

As my frustration grew, I stopped running to Seattle to feed and instead hunted the hikers and campers that came to the dreary town despite what was certainly ghastly weather for humans. This proved to be a rather costly mistake, because although I was able to disguise the bodies enough to fool the humans into assuming animal attack was the cause of death; the coven knew better. Now the coven knew I was here and three of the males had begun to hunt me. All the time I had spent covering my scent was now wasted and it was even less likely that I could get near Alice.

After a particularly close call, I was forced to flee Washington with the three vampires hot on my heels. They pursued me through Oregon and Nevada where I paused, certain that I had lost them; the mind-reader found me again though. Redoubling my efforts to lose them, I dragged them through California and Arizona before laying a false trail down to South America. I watched with glee as they took the bait and left the United States. Travelling through New Mexico, I reassessed my tactics, still not making any definite plans in an attempt to avoid giving Alice any visions. I still had no idea how I was going to get to her; confident in my fighting abilities, I knew that I only had to get her alone and unprotected to ensure her demise.

The narrowest escape of my existence occurred in the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico. I was leisurely stalking a young man on his way home from work when I was attacked by three powerful vampires. Caught completely off guard, I was lucky to escape. Returning the next night, I tracked their scent to determine who had the gall to attack me. When I had located what could only be termed a nest, I was relieved to see that these vampires were not affiliated with the Forks coven in any way. There were two mature vampires deep in discussion while six newborns wrestled with each other in the corner.

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**A/N:** A filler chapter if ever there was one. Once again I've tried to ensure my facts are as accurate as possible.

And another note, I added a paragraph (maybe two) to Alice Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest last week. Nothing too major (depending on your definition) just that she tracked down her decedents and lucked into some more photos and family heirlooms as well as about forty years worth of her younger sister Cynthia's diaries – kind of important for this chapter.

05-August-2009  
25-October-2009 -- beta'd


	14. 13 x A History of Violence

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

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**Previously…**

Redoubling my efforts to lose them I dragged them through California and Arizona before laying a false trail down to South America. I watched with glee as they took the bait and left the United States.

**Chapter thirteen: A History of Violence**

Carlisle's POV

I hung up, ending my conversation with Jasper. Unfortunately, after tracking her all the way down to Brazil, Victoria's trail had gone cold and the boys had all but lost her. It was a serious blow; she had managed to get very close to the family, completely undetected. On the bright side, she had had to flee a long way to evade them, hopefully that will be a strong enough disincentive and she won't dare return. I knew it was a vain hope. She wanted revenge for the death of her mate, and I knew exactly when I would stop if it had been my Esme – never.

When I arrived in the living room three pairs of expectant eyes fixed on me.

"Any news?" Rosalie asked impatiently. Everyone in the room knew I had just spoken with Jasper, they had heard my half of the conversation.

"They're heading back," I informed my family in a detached voice. "Lost her somewhere in South America."

"Are we safe?" Esme asked. Her and Rosalie's eyes flicked to Alice for a moment when she speaks the word _safe_.

"I think so… for now at least," I tried to be reassuring but failed miserably. "We should still be careful, but she's been chased away for the time being."

"They'll be back tomorrow afternoon," Alice announced. "They couldn't avoid the five hour layover in Miami."

Everyone relaxed slightly with the knowledge that the family would be reunited soon. It was terrifying how recent events had shaken us to our very cores. Now I had less than twenty-four hours to pull myself back together and bask in the freedom of not having to censor my every thought. I had known Edward the longest of anyone in the family, I was the one who made him a vampire, and I was the best at keeping my thoughts hidden from him. When he returned with Emmett and Jasper, he would not have to contend with my fears as well as his own.

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Edward's POV

Victoria was proving elusive. We were expecting this, she had already shown a penchant for evasion, but we were planning on having more success this time. We needed to be successful, for Alice's sake. While none of us doubted Alice's ability to defend herself in a fight, we didn't want her to find herself in a position where that was necessary, and Victoria was particularly vicious.

We moved quickly as we tracked her out of Washington. There were a few times when we thought we had her as we hunted her through California, but in the end we didn't have any luck. Every time we got close to her, she slipped through our fingers and a little further out of our reach. Arizona was more of the same, our hunt constantly being frustrated by the sunny climes of those two states. Finally we were no longer in the United States, the land became less populated and the threat of exposure lessened considerably. Our task should have become easier, or at the very least more simple, but Victoria just seemed to move farther out of our reach.

It was incredibly frustrating that we had lost Victoria; we all thought so. By the time we reached Brazil, and realised that we had lost her, we were unable to backtrack and relocate her trail. The only thing we could do was call Carlisle and let him know we were heading home. We weren't a pretty sight on the trip home. Emmett looked the least haggard of our party, and that was only because he didn't have an extra ability affecting him on top of his own emotions. Everyone felt guilty and angry that we couldn't catch Victoria and protect Alice – this affected Jasper, souring his mood even further. And I could hear everyone's thoughts, including Jasper's reaction to the emotions he was picking up and it wasn't pleasant. The whole situation was only compounded by a five hour layover in Miami that we just couldn't avoid. When we eventually arrived at Sea-Tac airport, the rest of the family met us. Rosalie practically assaulted Emmett, while Alice flew into Jasper's waiting arms. I was left to catch Carlisle up – not having a mate ostracised me from the rest of the family today, highlighting our differences.

What followed our return were months of uneasy peace. There were no signs of Victoria. We kept a careful lookout, but we were still unable to fully relax with the threat she potentially posed looming over us. Our cover at the school was also slipping. What with everyone being so distracted by all of the problems in our lives at the moment, our behaviour was even more suspicious; if this wasn't resolved soon we would have to move again, much earlier than planned.

A small reprieve from our fretting arrived on the doorstep in the form of Carmen and Eleazar, and Tanya and her sisters. With Kate's help Alice quickly transformed back into her bubbly and over excited self – a great relief for the whole family. Alice's past had always been an interesting enigma and our friends were just as excited as Alice to discover some of her history. The inferred similarities between Alice and her sister were especially interesting for Eleazar, and I was left feeling ashamed that I hadn't paid as much attention to the monumental discoveries that Alice had made about her past. If the whole Victoria fiasco had not been in full swing, I would have been pouring over those journals with her, Jasper too. It was just more evidence of how our family was being torn apart since the meeting with James' coven.

Although we still lived under the same roof, we had all retreated into ourselves trying to seek out a solution, and with none forthcoming we hadn't come back together again. Even though she tried to hide the thoughts, I knew that Alice blamed herself for what had befallen our family. Esme especially. Since that day when James had kidnapped her to get to Alice, Esme hadn't been the same. Jasper was giving his psychology degrees a workout trying to help her, and she was getting better, albeit slowly. But it pained the whole family to see our _heart_ hurting. The nightmarish memories of her kidnap had transported her back to her human days when she was beaten by her drunken husband. She had confessed to me that she had just given up and stopped fighting James. The trauma of the unearthed memories was one thing, but it was her guilt that was debilitating and dragging her into depression. This just added to Alice's guilt and the spiral began all over again. Victoria would not be wasting good oxygen for much longer; she had to die.

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"Well hello there, sailor!" Tanya's tinkling laugh sounded throughout my room.

"Sailor?" I asked with an eyebrow quirked. I regretted it immediately as my mind instantly filled with images of myself, dressed in a sailor's uniform; there was a substantial amount of material missing from the rear of the pants. The image then shifted to myself, as though I were looking in a mirror, real time, and my face was contorted into an expression of horror and disgust.

"Sorry," Tanya apologised. I knew from experience she wasn't really, she had perfected the art of spouting socially acceptable and expected nothings centuries ago. It was as natural to her as breathing was for a human.

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not."

A moment of comfortable silence stretched between us. Tanya's lewdness had long ceased triggering those moments of awkwardness one sees in daytime soap operas and romantic comedies. She was also the first to break it, typical Tanya.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

That stopped me short. Did I want to talk about it? Did I want to talk about it with Tanya? Well, I certainly couldn't talk about it with my family. There was just too much angst at the moment for me to burden them with my worries, along with their own.

"Yes," I admitted in a small voice.

"Tell me," she said simply.

"I should have seen it," the words just started to pour from my lips. "I could feel the possessiveness of his thoughts. They were mostly hidden, that should have tipped me off as well. And I could feel the emotions Jasper was picking up from him. Put it all together and it was _so_ obvious. We could have done something straight away. Alice wouldn't have been scared into unresponsiveness for two days; James wouldn't have been able to take Alice and Esme; James would have met his end that much sooner; and we wouldn't still be tracking Victoria all across the country. It feels like it's all my fault… even though logically, rationally I know that it isn't."

Once I started, the words just wouldn't stop and Tanya simply listened in patient silence.

"That's not what you want to talk about," she pressed.

I stared at her blankly for a full two minutes and seventeen seconds.

"What?" I eventually asked her, thoroughly confused.

Tanya waited. Eventually I broke.

"When we got off the plane," I started slowly. "Everyone was there, but no one was there. Rosalie pounced on Emmett, Alice ran to Jasper, and Carlisle and Esme stood back and waited for me."

"Yes?"

"I was completely and utterly alone. Surrounded as I was by my family, I was still alone. I am _alone_…"

------------------------------

When the visit from Tanya's coven ended I was surprised that it had been all pleasant. Our friends had helped Alice and Esme both from drowning in their own spirals of guilt and their centuries of experience had been a great help in concocting a plan to deal with Victoria once and for all. The greatest relief was the near complete absence of Tanya's advances. I didn't know whether she felt sorry for me, actually realised that it wasn't appropriate to make a pass at me at the moment, or if someone in the family had told her of Alice's visions of my mate – I didn't care – she'd been nothing but a supportive friend this fortnight and for that I was grateful.

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Time passed slowly during the months after Tanya's coven returned to Alaska. The family no longer shied away from each other and we had begun to heal thanks to the reprieve Victoria had given us for the moment. As unfathomable as it was we actually had worse things to worry us for the minute. We'd had our eye on the papers and other news sources for a few weeks now. There appeared to be a vampire running amuck in Seattle. The first two could be written off easily enough, but thirteen mysterious disappearances during the night hours? That couldn't be ignored. The Volturi certainly wouldn't.

This left us with an interesting dilemma. Should we go to Seattle and take care of the wayward vampire ourselves to remove the need for the Volturi to visit the United States? This seemed like the most obvious solution, even if it wasn't our job to act as the U.S. branch of the Volturi guard; until Jasper added his two cents of course. I was ready to groan in frustration by the time he had finished outlining all of the ins and outs of this plan. If we tracked and killed this vampire, it was still highly likely that the Volturi would come. They would want to know who dealt with the problem and why. Which, of course, brought us back to the beginning – we didn't want the Volturi visiting. Another option was to sit back and wait for the guard to come and sort the problem – it couldn't take much longer for a small contingent to be dispatched – and hope that they didn't decide to drop by in the process.

Jasper held great respect for the Italian vampires and wanted to leave them to handle the problem in Seattle; Emmett on the other hand wanted to see some affirmative action and wanted to be an active participant in it. After a few days of bickering, we finally came to a conclusion. As the disappearances continued in Seattle, we dug in and waited, the Volturi would be travelling to America soon.

Another full month passed and the Volturi still hadn't come. Was this a test? Were we supposed to intervene? I knew enough of Aro from Carlisle's thoughts to know that this was just the sort of sick and twisted game he might play. However, I didn't think he would play it with his friend Carlisle, from Carlisle's thoughts, I had gathered that the two were genuinely friendly. Something would have to be done soon. The trouble was that we were stuck in the loop of a self-fulfilling prophecy. We were so reliant on Alice's gift that we wouldn't risk making a move until we had some indication of the outcome. However, Alice couldn't see anything because we hadn't made a definite decision. It was incredibly frustrating and I allowed a sigh to escape my lips as I flopped into a chair in the family room. I hadn't been paying strict attention, but I still caught the tail end of one of Jasper's thoughts as I mulled over my own.

"What?" I asked Jasper sharply, my concern leaching into my voice. The rest of my family fell silent as they waited for either Jasper or me to betray what I had just picked up in his thoughts.

"Well," Jasper began, clearly uneasy about the spotlight suddenly being thrust upon him.

"He thinks it may be an army," I finished impatiently.

No one moved. A few pairs of eyes blinked in disbelief, even though it was completely unnecessary for a vampire, as they tried to process this new piece of information. For a vampire it should have taken a fraction of a second to consider this theory and compare it to the facts, but denial made it take much longer.

"Are you sure?" Carlisle finally questioned.

"Yes, it all fits," Jasper replied sadly. "It's all too familiar, I should have noticed sooner."

"You are the best man I've ever known," Alice assured him. She didn't need his empathy to sense that he was about to spiral into an oblivion of dark and tormented memories of his past. Of the time he simply referred to as 'before Alice'. Jasper rewarded her with a sad smile as he leaned further back in his chair.

"Can you see anything new?" Esme asked Alice softly. She was cautious because Alice was still edgy about her lack of useful visions of late. It was an unfortunate reminder of the events surrounding their kidnap by James.

"I'll try," Alice said as she scrunched her eyes closed and willed a vision to come. Her shoulders sagged, "No, I can't see anything."

Without warning, her eyes frosted over as an unbidden vision came to her. I didn't pay attention since it was probably just tomorrow's weather forecast. Her startled gasp, however, told me that I should have been paying attention. In a flash, Jasper had her in his arms as her tumultuous emotions were accidentally washed over us all.

"Sorry," Jasper apologised as he quickly saturated the room with calm.

"What did you see?" I asked Alice. Unlike the rest of the family, I didn't need her to speak out loud and stood frozen in shock as I relived the vision as her mind relived it.

"Vampires," Alice explained to the family. "Lots of them."

"When, where?" questioned Rosalie and Emmett, both instantly getting riled up.

"Here, in Forks," elaborated Alice. "The whole town is overrun. We fight, but we can't stop it, so many people are killed. Then the future just disappears," she finishes in a whispered whisper.

"How many?" Jasper asked.

"Maybe twenty."

"What if we cut them off before they get to Forks?" Jasper began strategising.

"They kill us. Then they massacre Forks," Alice said, completely devoid of emotion.

"We need help," Jasper said simply.

"There isn't time," Alice whispered forlornly. "They'll be here tonight. It's a snap decision."

"What about…" Carlisle began to ask.

"Yes!" Alice cried as she leapt up from Jasper's arms.

"Really?" I asked incredulously. "Would they help?"

"Their whole purpose is to protect humans," Carlisle reminded me.

"They will, Edward," Alice assured me. "The near future has just disappeared, but I can still see us in a few years' time."

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**A/N:** Reviews are always appreciated. Alerts let me know you're interested, but the reviews let me know what you think :) *wink wink nudge nudge*!

19-August-2009  
25-October-2009 -- beta'd


	15. 14 x Murder, She Wrought

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.**

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**

**Previously…**

"Here, in Forks," elaborated Alice. "The whole town is overrun. We fight but we can't stop it, so many people are killed. Then the future just disappears," she finishes in a whispered whisper.

**Chapter fourteen: Murder, She Wrought**

Victoria's POV

Mexico had been a close call, too close; I was too firmly steeped in the art of evasion to ever suffer from close calls. It did give me an interesting idea though: a newborn army. I now understood what had drawn the Volturi's attention last century. After my embarrassing slip up, I lingered in Mexico, learning what I could. Adding to centuries of knowledge, I observed how the two vampires controlled their newborns. When I had learned all that I could, I started my journey back north. Seattle seemed perfect for my purposes, large enough that it could support a number of vampires unbeknownst to the human population. It was also close to Forks.

I gathered that the easiest way to control the newborns was to use a more mature newborn; I didn't have time for that though, so I picked one up while I was in Mexico. _Here's one I prepared earlier._ I smirked; human cooking programs were very amusing. His name was Riley. He was attractive enough and easy to manipulate, but monotonous. Riley was happy enough to come with me, especially when I convinced him we were in love - a disgusting thought. As if any vampire could compare to my James. James would be impressed by my deviousness though. Even if the newborns didn't wipe the Cullens out, the Volturi would when they arrived to clean up the aftermath. Riley talked non stop on the run to Seattle. He was a junior – whatever that meant, he seemed quite tall – and he was changed while on holiday with his family in Mexico. He went on and on and on, so I tuned him out until his voice was just a dull buzz and I could enjoy the freedom of the speed and the wind whipping through my hair as we ran.

When we arrived in Seattle, I put my plan into action. This was easier said than done. By the time I had created seven newborns, they were near impossible to control. I was careful to ensure that I had no contact with them, I couldn't leave anything in their minds to trace this back to me, and left the wrangling to Riley. He was good at it; I was glad I had thought to acquire him.

Even though I had excellent control, not every human I bit became a vampire; I killed quite a few of the fragile things. I had roughly an eighty per cent success rate though, so the number of newborns rose steadily. Much to my vexation, once I had amassed about twenty, Riley had more trouble controlling them. They fought amongst themselves more as their numbers increased, killing each other. With much effort on my part, I was able to maintain a force of around twenty.

The increased numbers made feeding them discreetly almost impossible. Riley and I were careful to ensure that they only fed from humans whose disappearance would go unnoticed. Still, eventually news of the disappearances started to appear in the newspapers. To maintain any sort of surprise and avoid the wrath of the Volturi, it was critical that we attack soon. As soon as I made the decision, I realised that we had to leave now. The psychic would see. There was no time to waste.

------------------------------

Edward's POV

"The wolves are really our only hope?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Alice shook her head, but managed to suppress the sigh. Rather than protesting out loud anymore, I just watched the visions play out in Alice's mind, changing as I made each new decision. All of our European friends were too far away, same with the South Americans, Asians and Africans; even the Denali clan would take too long to reach us to be of any real help. The wolves truly were our only hope. Convincing them to help us was another matter entirely. Despite my reservations, I conceded the point and stood stock still, listening quietly as Carlisle placed the call.

"Yes?" answered a gruff, but deep baritone.

"Hello, this is Carlisle Cullen," Carlisle paused to collect his thoughts. "I'm sorry, but this is the only number we have to contact you."

There were some shuffling noises and other miscellaneous sounds as the phone changed hands. A hurriedly whispered conversation could also just be made out during this undertaking, but we couldn't decipher what was being said.

"What?" asked a sullen and decidedly more youthful voice. This must be Jacob.

"We need to meet."

"Sure sure."

"It's important."

"I'm sure it is."

Carlisle let loose an uncharacteristic, exasperated sigh before he gave Jacob directions to a neutral meeting place and asked for representatives of the pack to be there at 10 o'clock tonight. That concluded the frustrating conversation.

"So comforting to know that they are our only hope," I muttered.

"He's young," Carlisle reminded me.

"That's no excuse to be rude and uncharitable," I automatically quoted my mother.

"But it _is_ an explanation," Carlisle said gently. "Besides, he is bound to pass this request along. The next time the pack phases, they will know if he keeps it from them."

"True," I conceded.

At 10 o'clock that evening, Carlisle, Jasper and I were waiting at our appointed meeting place. Nothing could describe the relief we felt when I announced that I _heard_ the wolves approaching. Despite Carlisle's brave face, we were all worried that the wolves wouldn't come, because once again, we were putting our complete trust in Alice's visions. We hadn't even tried to contact the Denali's, knowing that they couldn't get here in time. But, if the wolves wouldn't join us, I would take _not soon enough_ over _no help at all_ any day.

Four wolves emerged from the undergrowth, two by two with a space in between. After a short pause, the space was filled by a young man, Sam.

"Sam," Carlisle nodded in the wolf's direction and gestured to each of us as he made the introductions. "You've already met Edward. This is another of my sons, Jasper."

A slight inclination of his head was all the acknowledgement we were going to get. Rather than being offended, Carlisle ploughed on; he didn't need my ability to pick up on the wolves' distrust.

"We asked you to come here today because we need your help," Carlisle cut straight to the crux of the matter.

'_Stupid bloodsuckers…'_

'_Help?'_

'_Laugh a minute.'_

'_Insane…'_

"You need our help?" Sam asked tonelessly.

"Yes," Carlisle replied simply. "Last we spoke, I explained Edward's gift, but one of my daughters also has a powerful gift. She has the ability to predict the future."

'_Whoa…'_

'_A psychic?'_

'_Why is he telling them this about my Alice?'_

'_The legends are true.'_

'_Sounds like crap!'_

"Earlier today she had a vision of an attack on our family."

'_Good.'_

'_And they want us to save their asses?'_

"It is a large number of our kind. Too many for us to deal with on our own and the attack is too imminent for other help to arrive. We've been over a number of scenarios, but we won't survive the fight without your help."

The silence, both mental and audible, was deafening as the wolves let this information sink in. After a short pause, their minds were a flurry of activity. None of it sounded promising to me, but Alice had been quite certain that the wolves would help us. Perhaps Carlisle hadn't made the request in the best way?

"Vampire business is not our concern," Sam finally broke the silence.

"We understand that," Carlisle assured him. "The problem is that my family, standing alone, cannot stop these vampires. They will tear us to shreds and then keep coming. The force moving against us is made up of very young vampires. When they hit Forks, they will kill everyone they can find and when they're done, they will move to the next source of food. That will most likely be La Push."

'_We'll deal with them when they get here…'_

'_He sounds worried.'_

'_Shut up.'_

'_What? He does.'_

"How many?" asked Sam. I could tell from his thoughts that he had almost been convinced to help us. Even though the people of Forks didn't fall directly under their protection, Sam wanted to protect them if he could. He also thought that fighting with us would make it easier to protect the tribe in La Push.

"Around twenty."

"You _are_ outnumbered," Sam mused. "I will speak with the tribal council and let you know their decision. They will probably agree to help you; it seems to be in everyone's best interests. When do you see the attack happening?"

"Tomorrow, around noon."

Sam absorbed this information and with another curt nod, turned and began to walk back into the trees. The four wolves started backing away to follow.

"Wait," called Jasper.

Sam turned around, mild surprise flashed across his face before it reset into his steely mask.

"If you agree to help… there won't really be time to strategise before going into the fight," Jasper explained. "The vampires we are facing are newly made. They are much stronger than older vampires."

'_So?'_

'_A bloodsucker's a bloodsucker.'_

'_We rip 'em to shreds.'_

"Because of the differences between newborn and older vampires, I recommend a different strategy to fight them. I have had experience with newborn vampires." Jasper could sense the emotions broiling in the wolves. They were not happy and that was phrasing it mildly. He was proceeding carefully, trying to impart his advice in a manner that would not cause more offence. Using his gift was out of the question; there was scarcely enough trust as it was. "The newborns will be unskilled because they are so new, but if they can wrap their arms around you, they will crush you easily. It is best to attack from behind."

"We don't mean to cause offence," I clarified. From the thoughts I was picking up, it was clear that Jasper had managed just that. "If you fight with us, and if you do, we will be grateful, we want you to be as prepared as possible."

"We will be in touch," Sam said as he turned to leave for the second time. His thoughts showed that he was impressed by our openness, if still a little distrustful.

"Thank you," Carlisle said to their backs as they melted into the trees.

A few hours later, we received a phone call from the pack. They would fight with us. Alice's face lit up when she heard the news and I wondered how her tiny body managed to contain all that smugness. Jasper, already in battle mode, kicked it to the next gear when he heard the news and started working on strategies that made fighting alongside the wolves as effective as possible. Keeping both parties apart seemed to be the one constant among all his plans.

------------------------------

The next day, the family assembled in the baseball clearing. The mood was tense and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when the wolves arrived. When they said they would come, we didn't doubt that they would, but it was still a relief when they actually arrived. There were eight wolves in total.

"A few younger wolves have been left to protect La Push," I informed my family, having gleaned it from the wolves' thoughts.

"That's a good idea," Jasper agreed. "It would be unwise to leave it unprotected, in case some newborns get by us or they split up."

Emmett was projecting enthusiasm in a fashion that would put even Alice to shame; he was looking forward to the battle, as were the wolves. Alice's face had settled into a permanent frown since her visions had dried up the second the wolves arrived in the clearing. Rosalie looked bored yet tense; Carlisle and Esme were resigned, while Jasper and I were on the same page. We were running the strategy over in our minds and counting the minutes until the arrival of our enemy, oddly enough, all while standing shoulder to shoulder with our mortal enemy – the werewolves.

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**A/N:** Short chapter, sorry, Riley's history had to change a bit to fit my plot *shrugs* and the wolves… all the vamp activity has made lots of kids phase? *double shrug* just go with it.

For those of you who get impatient about such things: there are three or so chapters until we get down to business. There will be Volturi, confrontation, a trial, a reunion of sorts… lots of interesting stuff to look forward to!

**Leave me a review. Even the short inane comments make me happy :)**

03-September-2009  
09-November-2009 -- beta'd


	16. 15 x Dances With Wolves

Disclaimer – Twilight is not my creation.**

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**

**Previously…**

"The wolves are really our only hope?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

**Chapter fifteen: Dances With Wolves**

Sam's POV

"Sam," the vampire leader greeted me, nodding amicably in our general direction, as I stepped into the middle of my four pack brothers. The vampire further impressed me by politely introducing his two companions - the bronze haired teen who could read minds and a thin but muscular blonde.

The phone call from the doctor to arrange this meeting been a surprise, to put it mildly, but if they wanted to talk, we would oblige them. However, Jacob's handling of the phone conversation was nothing short of embarrassing. I knew he was young, but still. I shook my head again as I remembered him recounting the conversation to me. Pushing my mental tangent aside, I didn't need the teen listening into those thoughts, I inclined my head acknowledging the greeting.

"We asked you to come here today because we need your help," the vamp told us.

"You need our help?" I intoned. I was desperately interested and unnerved that they would need our help with anything. Keeping the disbelief from my voice was a struggle, but I managed. In fact, suppressing the instinct to tear the three vampires standing in front of me to shreds was already starting to wear at my self control.

"Yes," he replied. "Last we spoke, I explained Edward's gift, but one of my daughters also has a powerful gift; she has the ability to predict the future."

More gifts? Some of our legends mentioned vampires who had extra abilities, but they were supposed to be rare. I bit back the rush of fear that attempted to surge to the forefront of my consciousness when I tallied the number of the coven to have _gifts_ at two. Remaining silent, I allowed the vampire to continue.

"Earlier today, she had a vision of an attack on our family. It is a large number of our kind, too many for us to deal with on our own and the attack is too imminent for other help to arrive. We've been over a number of scenarios, but we won't survive the fight without your help."

It took me a moment to process the request. They wanted us to help them fight other vampires? Although, for them to even contemplate asking us proved that their situation was dire; surely we were their last resort when seeking allies? Still, it must be serious for them to attack their own kind; I couldn't fathom fighting against another pack of werewolves. To be perfectly honest, I didn't understand vampire politics and wanted nothing to do with it.

"Vampire business is not our concern," I told him, hoping my noncommittal answer would buy me some more time to analyse the consequences of the present situation.

"We understand that," the vampire replied, not at all surprised by my response. "The problem is that my family, standing alone, cannot stop these vampires. They will tear us to shreds and then keep coming. The force moving against us is made up of very young vampires. When they hit Forks they will kill everyone they can find. When they're done, they will move to the next source of food. That will most likely be La Push."

"How many?" I asked, the true severity of the situation starting to become apparent.

This really did seem like vampire stuff. Even though these vampires were about as _good_ as vampires could get, I still wouldn't lose any sleep over their deaths. However, what he was saying about these vampires not stopping after killing them sounded reasonable. While the people of Forks didn't fall directly under our protection, we couldn't stand idly by while they were killed. Perhaps fighting alongside the vampires would even make it easier to protect the tribe? That made sense. If this large group of vampires was worried by these vampires that were coming to attack, the pack should probably be worried as well. Bravado and an extra helping of courage seemed to be included in the package with the wolf genes, but I was trying to keep the accompanying thoughts at bay so that I could analyse the situation logically.

"Around twenty," the vampire answered directly.

"You _are_ outnumbered," I said, the comment was directed more to myself than to the vampires standing expectantly in front of me. "I will speak with the tribal council and let you know their decision. They will probably agree to help you; it seems to be in everyone's best interests. When do you see the attack happening?"

"Tomorrow, around noon."

Filing this last piece of information along with everything else I would have to relay to the tribal council, I turned and started to walk away from the vampires.

"Wait," called the blonde one.

I turned around in surprise. What was left to discuss?

"If you agree to help… there won't really be time to strategise before going into the fight," the blonde explained himself. "The vampires we are facing are newly made. They are much stronger than older vampires. Because of the differences between newborn and older vampires, I recommend a different strategy to fight them. I have had experience with newborn vampires. The newborns will be unskilled because they are so new, but if they can wrap their arms around you, they will crush you easily. It is best to attack from behind."

I struggled for a moment to contain my outrage. We were born to kill vampires; we didn't need their help. Even though I couldn't hear their thoughts when not phased, I could sense similar sentiments rolling off my pack brothers in waves of indignation.

"We don't mean to cause offence," the mind reader assured us.

I had forgotten that our thoughts weren't private when he was present. Annoying. In an aside, I wondered what other random snippets of thought he had listened into during this meeting, before refocusing on what he was saying. "If you fight with us, and if you do we will be grateful, we want you to be as prepared as possible."

"We will be in touch," I promised as I turned to leave. I was impressed by their openness and also a little unnerved by it since it was another indicator of how desperate they must be.

"Thank you," the leader's voice ghosted after our retreating forms.

A few hours later, I phoned the vampires after meeting with the tribe's council. We had agreed that working with the Cullens was our best chance to defeat the enemy, while suffering as few casualties as possible. I promised the vampires that we would meet them and the next day we did. Stepping into the large clearing, the tension, excitement and relief were instantly palpable. We took up position beside our enemy and waited for the enemy of our enemy to arrive.

Carlisle's POV

It was such a relief when the wolves appeared and stood beside us, ready to fight. Once Sam rang and told me they were coming, I knew that they would stand with us, but there were still niggling doubts. There were eight of them. The number was surprising; the pack was much larger than when we treated with Ephraim Black. Edward told us a few of the younger wolves had been left to protect La Push. Jasper murmured his accent, agreeing with the strategy behind the decision.

I saw Edward stiffen beside me, so I knew what he would say before he said it. "They're almost here."

Never had I wished that one of Alice's visions would be proven wrong more than I did now. I would give anything for these newborns not to be bearing down on our position; anything for them to be kept away from Esme. Chancing a glance at her, my heart melted. She wasn't a fighter, but nonetheless she was ready to fight now. The same attributes that made her an amazing mother and loving partner would make her a dangerous adversary in this battle that threatened the wellbeing of her family.

"They've caught our scent," Edward spoke up again, "they're splitting up."

Edward's gift was once again proving to be very useful. With Alice's gift rendered useless by the wolves, he was important, letting us know exactly when the newborns would arrive.

"Yes," Edward agreed, I assumed it was with me, but he was responding to something Sam was thinking.

Turning to us as the wolves began to disappear into the trees, Edward explained. "The pack is going to take the half that is circling around to attack us from behind. The distance between us will decrease the likelihood that we inadvertently attack each other."

Before anyone in the family could acknowledge the prudence behind Sam's decision, around ten newborn vampires streamed into the clearing. As expected, Emmett rushed forward to confront them head on and Jasper moved to shield Alice from attack. However, quite unexpectedly, Esme moved forward with the same ferocity and intensity as Emmett. Even more surprising, she proved herself to be more effective than Emmett; perhaps a function of her fighting inexperience and how carefully she had listened to Jasper's instructions. While I was proud of her, I couldn't help but be sickened by the violence erupting around us. The rest of the family followed their lead, Rosalie and I both removed arms from the newborn vampires we were fighting in tandem.

Edward's POV

Carlisle's thoughts and Jasper's incessant worrying about Alice were making it hard for me to concentrate on the two newborns in front of me. I dodged a clumsily thrown punch. I could hear Emmett enjoying himself off to my right, and not too far from him, I could hear Rosalie mentally scolding him for his recklessness. I tore an arm from a torso. Alice was wavering somewhere between amusement and irritation as Jasper prevented yet another newborn from getting anywhere near her. I separated a head from its body. Esme was actually scaring me a little with her ferocity. I knew she would do anything to protect her family, but I hadn't realised that that would include tearing newborn vampires to shreds. Another arm was torn free. Almost a mile away, I heard two more consciousnesses travelling through the forest. The thoughts of the first were difficult to make out, but the other set of thoughts were trained on Victoria. Without thinking, I sprinted from the clearing to pursue Victoria, leaving my concerned family, four newborn vampires, and several vampuzzles behind.

Jasper and I were both furious that Victoria had evaded us in South America; we had spent hours analysing our every move to try and discern our mistake: from the way we had moved; to the distance we had kept between us and our quarry; to the way we had attempted to anticipate her moves. We were determined that whatever the mistake, we would not make it again. Now, I crept through tree branches as I tailed Victoria and a blonde newborn vampire. When the wind stilled and with it the surrounding branches, I would remain still, not making a sound, and when the breeze returned I would again creep forward until I was close on their heels. It was an adrenalin-inciting game – stay close so as not to lose them, but keep my distance so as not to arouse suspicion – a game that I played with the utmost concentration.

I smelled it before we came upon it; the border between our land and that of the Quileutes. As with Laurent, I wondered at how they couldn't smell the wolves; I found their stench nigh unbearable. Without a thought, or so much as a stutter in their steps, Victoria and her companion crossed over the invisible line. Unlike my quarry, I paused before crossing the line. Those precious seconds were all the time my vampiric mind needed to compute, calculate, and comprehend all of the consequences of my next actions. Yet, still I followed them. I didn't really know what consequences this would have for the treaty with the wolves, but I zeroed in on the malevolent and revenge-laced thoughts of Victoria as I pressed forward.

The peaceful silence of this stretch of forest was further interrupted when another set of thoughts intruded on my mind. I could sense intense waves of excitement, impatience and resentment coming from this new consciousness. However, underlying these transient emotions was a single truth; this mind belonged to an innocent and they had unwittingly become the target of Victoria and her young companion. Moved by the creature's innocence, I approached Victoria's position more speedily. As I crept forward, belatedly, I realised that the mind belonged to another pack member. Now that I was more focused on their thoughts, I could discern something akin to a running commentary of the battle raging back in the clearing. I could also tell that this young wolf was mainly focused on the unfairness of being excluded from the battle; so much so that he was yet to detect the approach of three vampires.

Victoria was not so unaware though. She had caught the young wolf's scent and was now stalking him with the blonde newborn at her side. Her thoughts were all centred on revenge and causing as much damage and destruction as possible. Simply attacking my family with an army of newborn vampires was not enough for her; she wanted to share the chaos and destruction with the unassuming humans who lived near us.

A careless movement by the newborn snapped a small branch lying on the forest floor. The young wolf immediately snapped to attention; it was his job to protect the people who lived on the reservation while the older pack members fought alongside my family. By helping us, they had left their own people vulnerable to attack. This realisation was all it took to spur me into action, quickly. I circled around, placing myself in position to aid the wolf when Victoria's inevitable attack began. While I respected the wolf's ability to destroy a vampire, I wasn't sure how well he would fare against two vampires, especially since wolves were born to hunt in packs and were not as suited to fighting on their own. Also, Victoria was an experienced and lethal fighter; I held no doubts that she would be a formidable opponent.

When Victoria and her young friend emerged from the trees to confront the wolf, I stepped forward also, evening the numbers. The wolf didn't know this, however. When he heard me emerge from the trees, his mind reeled with the prospect of fighting three vampires by himself. I was momentarily in awe of his courage, not once did flight enter his mind as an option. Running away was a very real option for the wolf. Along with teeth that were capable of tearing vampire flesh apart, the wolves of the Quileute tribe were also extremely fast; faster than most vampires. In response to my arrival, the wolf skittered away from me and to the side. While the movement served to separate Victoria and her blonde companion, a jerk of her head silently instructing the newborn to move to face the wolf, it also forced me to trap myself against a cliff face in order to back the wolf up.

Finding myself staring into the wildly triumphant eyes of Victoria, I still had to find a way to let the young wolf know that I was an ally. I could sense his thoughts trying to concoct a plan that would allow him to conquer the three of us.

'_What are you waiting for, Riley? Attack the dog!'_ Victoria's thoughts screamed at the newborn.

Finally I had something to work with, the newborn's name was Riley, and now that I knew his name this would be easier. As I dipped into his thoughts, I could tell that he loved Victoria deeply; he would do anything for her. Even without Jasper's ability, I could tell it wasn't the love a vampire had for his mate; this love couldn't hold a candle to the profound intensity of that level of devotion. Listening to Victoria's snarled thoughts again, I instantly knew that Riley was little more than a means to an end for her. She did not love him.

"Riley?" my velvet voice coaxed the young vampire's attention to shift in my direction. "Are you sure this is worth it?"

Riley was more than a little confused for a few seconds. He shot a look over his shoulder at Victoria. Whatever he saw there must have reassured him, however, because he resumed his advance on the wolf.

"She doesn't love you, Riley. She never has. She loved someone named James, and you're no more than a tool to her," I pressed.

During my one sided conversation with Riley, I was careful to pay attention to Victoria's every move. When we actually started to fight, I would be forced to give her my full attention. The wolf, thankfully, was starting to wonder if maybe I was on his side after all. When he chanced a glance in my direction, I was careful to meet his gaze, allowing him to see the colour of my eyes. It worked. The wolf recognised the golden colour and information from his pack brothers confirmed for him that I was a Cullen. Now that the wolf knew that we were allies, his confidence was bolstered further and I could refocus my attention on the task at hand.

"She's using you," I continued to splinter Riley's concentration. "Every touch, every kiss, it was a lie. She's lying to you just like she lied to the others who are dying in the clearing. You know that she's lied to them, that she had _you _lie to them, that neither of you were ever going to help them. Is it so hard to believe she's lied to you too?"

"Don't listen to him!" interrupted a girlish shriek. I turned in surprise towards Victoria. The sound of her voice was a sharp contrast to the ferocious and feral creature that was half crouched in front of me. "He's the one that's lying. I told you about their mind tricks, I only love you."

Riley didn't need to be told twice. He turned with a dogged determination to face the wolf. As the two started to circle each, other my own battle began. Victoria and I commenced a deadly dance and I could tell from her thoughts that she was, for once, committed to see this out. Only one of us would be able to walk away from this fight and she was determined that it be her. I already knew from our previous, albeit short, encounter that she was a far more experienced fighter than I. So I did the only logical thing, I began digging through her mind for both her next move and anything that I could use as verbal ammunition. Her mind was not a pretty thing to behold, and even after ninety years of strangers' thoughts, Victoria's mind still caused my stomach to twist into knots of nausea.

Victoria and I restarted our deadly dance from a few months ago. She moved to the left, I moved left, she shifted right, I shifted to the right. A significant difference between this confrontation and our last was that I was being progressively forced back into the cliff face; I was trapped. Slowly her thoughts and intentions started to become clearer to me and I began to anticipate her moves. Each time she moved right, I was there a step before her. Every time she sashayed to the left, my body was already in motion. A sickening, keening crunch sounded to my left and I caught sight of Riley's mangled hand in Victoria's thoughts.

"That's got to hurt," I offered, my velvet voice dripping with sarcasm.

After the minutes of silence, the sound of my voice desolated Riley's concentration. His head snapped to look at me after my sarcastic comment met his ears. The momentary distraction was all that the wolf needed and he leapt at Riley, tearing an arm clean off. With a vicious shake of his head, he tossed the arm aside and advanced on Riley once more. In response, Riley hissed in pain and kicked at the wolf, sending him flying back into the rock face. I was concerned for the wolf for a fraction of a moment, but his thoughts showed me that he was fine. His confidence had been taken down a notch, although he had been dancing around Riley so cockily that I couldn't help but think that that was a good thing.

My own fight had picked up in both speed and intensity. If there were a human present to witness the spectacle, Victoria and I would appear as two blurs moving around each other in a flurry. The only thing that would betray the blows that were struck would be the crunch of vampire flesh and the shocked hisses and growls of the wounded vampire. A particularly loud hiss from Victoria distracted Riley again, affording the wolf the opportunity to relieve him of his remaining arm. Armless, Riley couldn't defend himself and it took hardly any time for the wolf to tear him into small pieces and survey his work with smug satisfaction.

Riley's demise cast a shadow across Victoria's mood. Although our fight was close, she still hadn't entertained the idea of losing to me. As doubt seeped into her thoughts, her instincts came to the fore. I could sense her wavering; only minutes ago she had stalked towards me determined that only one of us would leave this fight alive.

"No, stay just a little longer," I crooned.

Her strongest instinct was that of self-preservation and after wavering for a moment, she turned and bolted away from me. I was faster though; she didn't even make it to the tree line before I had caught her. With a swift movement that the wolf's thoughts told me appeared to be a kiss to the common bystander, I had used my teeth to separate her head from her body. For the briefest moment I looked down at her head, with tendrils of her tangled and wild hair splayed across the ground, as it rolled for a short distance before coming to a stop. Then, to the accompaniment of the wolf's genuine awe, I devoted 26 seconds to completely dismembering Victoria's body.

Leaving Victoria in a jumbled heap, I instructed the wolf to help me collect Riley up and add him to the pile. It took us only a few short minutes to locate all the pieces of vampire scattered around; when we were done I added some dry pine needles and set them alight. Slipping back into the wolf's mind, I gathered that the fight in the clearing had gone well, supported by the purple-tinged smoke that was billowing into the sky. With a longing whine, the wolf looked up at me.

'_I have to go…'_

"That's okay," I assured him. "I'll stay here and make sure they are burned completely to ash."

He whined again and what I picked up from his thoughts made me smile. I reached my fist out to him and he bumped it with his nose before turning and trotting into the woods to meet up with his brothers.

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**A/N:** Lots of POVs in this chapter. They are sequential and don't overlap as they did a few chapters ago when some readers got a little confused, so hopefully it's a non-issue.

**Please review, it helps to know what readers are thinking!  
And what did you think of my fight scenes? No idea what I was doing…**

15-September-2009  
13-November-2009 -- beta'd


	17. 16 x A Victory Short Lived

Disclaimer – I hold no proprietary or artistic rights over Twilight or any of the characters or scenarios created by Stephanie Meyer.

* * *

**Previously…**

Slipping back into the wolf's mind, I gathered that the fight in the clearing had gone well. This was supported by the purple-tinged smoke that was billowing into the sky.

**Chapter sixteen: A Victory Short Lived**

Rosalie's POV

The battle hadn't taken long at all, surprising me because we had all been so worried for the last 24 hours and now it was all over. Emmett enjoyed himself, typical; Carlisle simply did what had to be done; Jasper was overprotective; and Esme surprised us all with her intensity and ferocity. Alice, unsurprisingly, couldn't get near a newborn, thanks to Jasper, and Edward ran off halfway through the fight. That was strange, even for him.

Now, we were standing amongst burning pyres of newborn vampires: the ones that we had destroyed and those that the pack had destroyed, all piled together and set alight. All save for one; Carlisle _would_ choose now to try and save a lost soul. Jasper half stood, half crouched before the pitiful creature, ready to destroy her if she made one false move. It was an eerie scene with the purple tinged smoke billowing around us, the howls of the pack as they ran back to La Push only adding to the atmosphere.

"Edward killed Victoria," Alice informed us in a monotone, slipping her cell phone back into her pocket.

At least that explained why he ran off; he must have heard her thoughts. That was brave of him; I thought grudgingly. Emmett had mentioned how crafty and dangerous Victoria was. Looking in the direction Edward had left, I could make out another trail of purple smoke climbing into the sky; at least one other vampire had been killed today. I was glad Edward wasn't here to listen into my thoughts. The prodigal son didn't need my praise heaped upon him; he received enough from Carlisle and Esme.

"You have to control yourself," Carlisle reminded our newborn pet. She was digging her fingers into the ground in an attempt to dissipate some of the emotions that were seething through her. Jasper was obviously assisting her attempts to keep herself in check.

"Carlisle?" Alice's worried voice caught everyone's attention.

"What is it?" Esme asked, her voice just as worried as Alice's.

"The Volturi are coming," was Alice's simple reply.

"How many?" Carlisle asked.

"Just the usual contingent of the guard who are sent to clean up this kind of thing," said Alice, gesturing to the pyres around us.

"When will they be here?"

"Any minute now."

"Will Edward be with us?"

"No, he'll still be watching Victoria burn; making sure she's nothing more than ash."

Carlisle didn't respond to this news, but I was certain that we were all thinking along the same lines. It would have been reassuring to have Edward present when we encountered the guard. We hadn't done anything wrong, we had nothing to fear, but Edward might have been able to hear something from the guard that would explain why the Volturi were here. Or, why they hadn't arrived earlier.

A few minutes later, we were all on alert, our ears pricking up at the sounds of passage. Three vampires, if my ears were not deceiving me. The family converged and stood waiting, facing the section of trees where we knew the Volturi would emerge, the newborn all but forgotten for the moment. Sure enough, three hooded figures exited the trees and approached our position. In the centre stood a tiny vampire not more than five feet tall, flanked by two powerfully built vampires. One was thin, yet still powerful, like Jasper, while the other was built almost as solidly as Emmett. All three were clad in the signature woollen cloaks of the Volturi.

"Carlisle," greeted the short one, removing her hood as she spoke. She had the appearance of a child, which at least explained her height.

Jane's POV

"Jane," Carlisle returned my greeting, his infused with as little enthusiasm as my own.

Quickly surveying my surroundings, I noted the pyres of burning vampire flesh. I was surprised, there had clearly been many vampires in this fight, but I was careful to maintain an apathetic mask upon my face.

"Aro was hoping that we would travel far enough west to pay you a visit," I conversed.

"Yes, how is my dear old friend?"

"Aro is well, but he wonders why you don't trouble to visit or at the very least, to write more," I told Carlisle. I didn't mention what we both knew to be true: he hadn't written at all since he left Volterra well over two centuries ago.

"Please send him my regards, but it really is a shame you didn't arrive earlier," Carlisle shifted our conversation.

"Yes, we appear to have missed the fight," I noted. I, too, could play this game. Carlisle didn't need to know that we had purposely delayed our arrival. Aro still considered Carlisle to be a great friend, but Caius was both wary and jealous of him.

"A coven has never survived an attack of this magnitude before," I continued the conversation in the polite yet guarded tones that we had begun it in. I could see that there had been many newborns, but I could not gauge the exact number. "How many were there?"

"About twenty."

"Twenty," I repeated. "Impressive, you appear to have done our job for us."

That _was_ a lot of newborns. I surveyed the pyres that were spewing purple tinged smoke into the sky once more. Yes, I had underestimated their size on first examination. Aro would be pleased that his friend had survived unscathed, Caius would feel even more threatened by this unusually large and gifted coven, and Marcus would remain indifferent.

"Are you sure you got them all?" I asked him.

"Yes."

"We followed their scent from Seattle to this clearing," I explained, "They appeared to split up."

"We split up also."

I heard Felix sigh behind me; he had been looking forward to dispatching some newborns. I suppressed a smile. Well, one couldn't find fault in their tactics; the seven of them had dispatched twenty newborns without incurring any serious injuries or casualties.

Evaluating Carlisle's coven more closely, I began putting names to faces. The female with long, caramel coloured hair must be his mate, Esme; the male rivalling Felix in size must be Emmett; the striking blonde female beside him, Rosalie. Off to the side stood another mated couple, the tall male was covered in scars; he was an impressive sight, he must be Jasper. We had heard rumours of the warrior vampire who had forsaken the wars in the South to join Carlisle's family. Beside him stood a tiny female, she could not have been much taller than me; this was Alice. Finally, my eyes fell on a young female. She was not Edward; in fact she looked newly turned.

"And who is this?" I asked.

"This is Bree. She has surrendered," Carlisle explained, introducing her.

"She is not a member of your coven. She was one of the ones to attack you."

For the moment, it appeared that our information about Carlisle's coven was outdated, only six coven members stood before me, perhaps Edward had ventured off on his own again? Aro would be eager to learn of this development.

"How many of you were there?" I questioned the newborn.

When she didn't respond right away, a small smile crept onto my face. I narrowed my gaze at her and felt my power surge forward, stabbing into her. Bree didn't disappoint as she writhed and screamed on the ground in pure unadulterated agony. Releasing her from my torturous glare, she heaved in lungfuls of unneeded air while I waited impatiently for her to answer my question. I half wished that she would refuse.

"I don't know," she wailed. "On the way here one named Sara killed another whose name I didn't know."

"Who made you?"

"I, I don't know," she stuttered, eager to please. "It was so dark. I didn't see her that night and I've never seen her since. Riley was the one to look after us; he said once that her name was Victoria. He said they would come to help us..."

"What of the vampires Victoria and Riley?" I queried.

"Edward took care of them," Carlisle said, a nod of his head directed my attention to another trail of purple smoke.

That explained where he was. Pity, Aro would have been pleased if he had been wandering alone again. We would have earned much favour if Demetri had been able to locate him. I knew that there was no way he would be able to refuse another invitation to join the guard; especially if it were extended by me. I almost laughed at my own joke.

"And where is he now?" I asked. I really wanted to know why he wasn't with them. It was a stroke of luck that he was not here to read our minds; we had the advantage in this verbal encounter.

"Ensuring that the remains are properly burned," Carlisle informed me. He was one for the short answers today; clearly he had been made uneasy by our visitation.

"Are you going to kill me?" the girl asked. "He said they wouldn't kill me if I stopped fighting."

I glanced at Carlisle, still amazed that he had spared the girl. "That wasn't his gift to give, young one."

"Wait," Carlisle's mate implored me. "She did not know, she was never taught."

"Yes, we would be happy to take responsibility for Bree and teach her the rules," Carlisle quickly agreed.

"There are no exceptions," I told them bluntly. I eyed the two of them incredulously for a moment before turning on my heel to begin the journey home.

"Felix, take care of that," I instructed in an offhand manner as I passed him, lazily waving a hand in Bree's direction.

Immediately, Felix sprung forward and a symphony of snapping and keening filled my ears for a moment, then it was over. Demetri and Felix flanked me, once again, and when we were fully concealed by the trees, we broke into a run for the Volturi jet and our flight home. We had much to tell.

---

Carlisle's POV

I breathed a sigh of relief as Jane disappeared from view. It was tragic that Bree had been destroyed when she simply knew no better, but my main priority was my immediate family and we were all safe. Pulling out my cell phone, I called Edward.

"Jane, Felix and Demetri just left," I told him. "Are you finished there?"

After a slew of curse words, he answered, "Yes, I'll be right there."

Edward had always been the fastest in the family and he very nearly beat us home, such was his urgency to find out what had transpired in our battle and afterwards, although he already had a fair picture of the battle because he had been able to view it through the wolves' collective minds. The pack had left before the Volturi arrived, however and he was now trying to extract every detail of the encounter from Rosalie, angry that he hadn't been present to read the guards' minds.

"That's what happened, word for word," shouted Rosalie. "Are you listening? Just pick it out of my head!"

"Thank you," Edward conceded with a sigh. "I just wish I had been there to hear what they were thinking."

"We all do," I attempted to make peace between my two most stubborn children. "But the fact of the matter is that Edward wasn't there, he was ensuring that Victoria burned to ashes."

"What was that like anyway?" Emmett asked Edward. "Weren't there two of them?"

"It was… interesting," Edward replied, he smiled slightly at the memory. "And yes, there were two of them, Victoria and Riley, but there were two of us also."

"You and who else?" Alice chimed in.

"I caught up to Victoria just as she and Riley were circling to attack one of the younger wolves who stayed behind to protect La Push."

"So you and a _dog_ fought side by side to kill Victoria and Riley?" Rosalie scoffed.

"Yes."

There was a lot of finality and an edge of protectiveness poured into that one simple word and even Rosalie had the sense to let the topic rest. Whatever had happened during Edward's fight with Victoria, the young wolf had earned Edward's respect. I knew that the wolf was fortunate that Edward had pursued Victoria when he heard her passing; two vampires would be difficult for a lone wolf to take down. Edward was probably equally lucky, even with the advantage his gift afforded him; he would have had difficulty defeating two experienced opponents on his own.

"So, are the Volturi gone for good?" Emmett tactlessly changed the subject.

"Yes, I think so," Alice told the family after a pause. "I don't see anything happening. All I see is Jane returning to Volterra and meeting with the brothers in their throne room. There's not much to see."

"So long as no one else decides to form a newborn army and attack us, we'll be fine then," Esme said matter-of-factly.

* * *

**A/N:** Leave me a review; it makes the Volturi scheme and plot faster.

28-September-2009  
22-November-2009 -- beta'd


	18. 17 x Curiosity Saved the Volturi

Disclaimer – Twilight is not my own.

* * *

**Previously…**

"Yes, I think so," Alice told the family after a pause. "I don't see anything happening. All I see is Jane returning to Volterra and meeting with the brothers in their throne room. There's not much to see."

"So long as no one else decides to form a newborn army and attack us we'll be fine then," Esme said matter-of-factly.

**Chapter seventeen: Curiosity Saved the Volturi**

Aro's POV

"Grazie, Gianna," I dismissed the human.

I didn't dislike dealing with humans, but it could become tiresome. It took them so long to process the most simple of instructions. I was thankful that I had all of eternity; otherwise I would not have the patience to endure them. Sometimes, I was truly amazed at how they had managed to invade virtually every inch of the planet, but then again, so had rats and pigeons and they were even less impressive creatures. Gianna was a curious individual, even for a human. She wasn't afraid of vampires or at least not to the extent that would be prudent and she had sought us out, seeking to be turned into a vampire. Her gumption was impressive and we would employ her efficiency and organisational skills to our benefit, but only until she was no longer of any service or use to us. It would be at this time that she would make her request of us, although I knew she would never be turned into a vampire because the pitch of her voice irritated Caius to no end.

The return of Jane, Demetri and Felix was something that I had been eagerly awaiting. The disturbance that they had been dispatched to quell was located so close to Carlisle and his coven that I knew Jane would be bringing me news of my old friend. Gianna informing me of their arrival was well timed. I was getting bored and a short time later, Caius, Jane and I were seated in my study waiting for Marcus to arrive.

"Must we wait for him?" Caius grumbled.

"Of course, dear brother," I told him. "You would not appreciate Marcus and me beginning without you."

I could tell that Caius wanted to say something more, but he knew better than to give voice to the thought. Besides, I already knew of his opinions on Marcus; I knew his every thought from just the lightest of touches. Marcus' grief may have caused him to retreat into himself, but he was still one of the three brothers Volturi. He may have become a silent, voiceless figurehead, but he was an important symbol and had once wielded great power. That he no longer actively participated in governing, or life for that matter, simply meant that I had one less opponent to consider.

Finally, Marcus arrived and I was able to turn my attention to Jane.

"What news do you bring, dear one?" I asked her.

"Good news, Master," she told me, _us_. "All of the newborn vampires that had been threatening us with exposure in the American city of Seattle have been destroyed and we also met up with Carlisle, as you had hoped."

"Bravo!" I congratulated her.

"Who cares about Carlisle?" Caius drawled. "How many newborns were there?"

"There were roughly twenty newborn vampires, plus an older one to control them, as well as Victoria," Jane told Caius.

"Victoria was behind this?" I asked in disbelief. I was finding it difficult to picture her controlling an army of newborn vampires or, for that matter, going against our ruling. "We ruled on this issue; the Cullens didn't have a case to answer."

No one said anything, which was just as well. I was furious with Caius for keeping the reports that there were newborn vampires running rampant through Seattle from me. Imagine if the guard had been further delayed and Carlisle or a member of his coven had been killed? Did Caius know that Victoria was going to continue to go after the Cullens? Did he suggest using newborn vampires to her? It sounded as though Carlisle was very lucky to have survived.

"What do you mean by _roughly_ twenty newborn vampires?" Caius asked.

"Well," Jane hesitated, throwing a quick glance in my direction; I wasn't going to like this. "We didn't actually destroy the newborns; they were being burned when we arrived."

"By whom? Explain from the beginning," Caius ordered.

"When we arrived in the United States, we travelled straight to Seattle," Jane recounted. "Local news reports suggested that the infestation was larger than we had originally thought, so we set off quickly, tracking the scent of the newborn vampires and following it out of the city. Eventually, we came to a point where the newborn vampires split up, readying to attack someone or something."

"Definitely an army," murmured Caius. Jane ignored the quiet interjection and continued to relate her version of events.

"Already, we could see the purple smoke from fires burning the remains of vampires and I was concerned that we may have been too late to prevent the destruction of Carlisle's coven."

I couldn't help throwing a pointed glare in Caius' direction. When he had seen the reports of missing humans in Seattle, he had interpreted the signs to mean that there were vampires hunting, unchecked, in Seattle and he hadn't informed me. Deducing that it was a vampire army, and that the only thing in the vicinity of Seattle worth attacking was Carlisle's coven, was a small leap in thinking; one he was easily capable of making. Keeping my thoughts to myself, I let Jane finish telling her story; I would view the events from her trip, personally, when she was done.

"However, when we arrived, there stood Carlisle and five other members of his coven watching the remains of the newborns burn."

Caius hissed, almost silently, in irritation. I wasn't the only one to notice it; Marcus' focus changed, however minutely. I would be having words with my _brother_ as soon as this meeting was over.

"They had destroyed all of the newborn vampires, except for a lone female. I was able to question her to confirm their story. Victoria, along with a young vampire, Riley, had created the vampire army to attack Carlisle's coven."

"Victoria and this Riley have also been destroyed?" I asked Jane.

"Yes, Carlisle's figlio Edward, the mind reader, was not with the rest of the coven. At first, I thought that maybe he was travelling on his own again. However, it turned out that he was still at another battle ground burning the remains of Victoria and Riley."

Jane was clearly impressed by young Edward's fighting skills. Destroying both Victoria and Riley would have been quite a feat for any other vampire. I knew that his mind reading abilities, coupled with his formidable fighting skills, made Edward a dangerous opponent and therefore a valuable addition to the guard. It was a shame that Edward wasn't once again travelling alone. I would have liked to extend another invitation to him to join the guard; he had already declined my entreaties. Jane had clearly anticipated my desires. If it had emerged that Edward was once again on his own, she would have tracked him using Demetri's gift and brought him back to Volterra.

"Why hadn't they killed the female?" interrupted Caius.

"Carlisle spared her," Jane explained, an ounce of contempt seeping into her voice. "He didn't want to kill her when her only crime, in his eyes, was being created by a vampire who didn't teach her the rules. His mate was upset at the prospect of her death and his coven volunteered to take her in and teach her. I, of course, had her destroyed."

"Bene," Caius and I praised Jane simultaneously.

"Perciό, Carlisle and his coven destroyed twenty newborn vampires without assistance?" Caius asked, without emotion.

"No, they certainly destroyed some of them, but not all."

"What do you mean? Who helped them?" Caius asked. I could sense that he was already spoiling to fight for the eradication of Carlisle's coven; despite the not-so-cryptic warning we had received. Additionally, if they had powerful allies, Caius would be that much harder to dissuade.

"When I was speaking with Carlisle, one of the first things I asked was whether they were certain that they had gotten all of the newborns. I was especially concerned since we'd noted that they'd split up before they came upon Carlisle's coven, but Carlisle told me that they had split up also. On our way back to Italy, we decided to double check and make sure that they hadn't missed any newborns; that was when we discovered all of the tracks."

"What tracks?" Caius interrupted again.

"They looked like they were made by wolves, but they were too big, too big for normal wolves at least. Felix and Demetri did a thorough sweep and couldn't detect that any of the Cullens had been in that part of the woods, but there was evidence of these giant wolves and also of the newborns. The vampire scent was mixed with something else that we couldn't identify, but we think it belonged to the giant wolves."

"Aro, you know what this means!" exclaimed Caius.

"It doesn't actually mean anything, Caius," I tried to reason. "Those tracks could have been left earlier and the Cullens may have engaged the other newborns in another location."

Caius had a one track mind and once he started down a path, it was very hard to reel him back in. Giant wolves meant one thing and one thing only to Caius: Children of the Moon or Werewolves. His hatred of the breed was legendary, fodder for myths and legends. Before I started the virtually pointless battle against his conspiracy theories and paranoia, I took a moment to remember why Caius feared the Children of the Moon. Remembering how he had looked after almost losing a fight with one, centuries ago, I had to admit that I understood where his fear came from. Realistically, however, there hadn't been a sighting of a Werewolf or Child of the Moon for almost as long; Caius had had them hunted unto extinction.

"No sense in jumping to conclusions, brother," I tried to calm Caius.

"Jumping to conclusions?" Caius spat. "I have been warning you about Carlisle for the better part of a century, ever since he started converting others to his ridiculous _lifestyle_. That he could delude other vampires into abstaining from their natural food source was and still is a testament to just how powerful and _dangerous_ he has become. Add to that the sheer size of his coven, brother! It is simply unnatural for so many vampires to exist together, but seven is just astounding."

"Caius, Carlisle is our friend," I continued my attempts to reason with him. "He lived with us for almost a decade and we know him to be nothing but gentle e compassionevole."

"Yes, you would have loved your little anomaly to have stayed with us," Caius hissed in response. "No doubt, if he had stayed, you would have given him a throne of his own."

"Forse," I allowed. "But I could do nothing without the consent of Marcus and yourself."

Staring Caius directly in the eyes, I could see the scepticism that flashed through them at the mention of Marcus. True, Marcus hadn't actively participated in anything since the death of his mate, but he did occasionally speak up; we were still able to make use of his valuable gift.

"Size is one thing, but his coven is also very gifted: the mind reader, the psychic, and an empath," Caius continued his tirade. "You have been coveting their abilities for decades, simply ignoring the fact that Carlisle is the leader of a deadly force."

"Perhaps it would be wise if we all thought on this?" Marcus interrupted. Caius and I were taken so completely unaware that we were stupefied, rendered immobile, as we watched him sweep out of the room.

I recovered myself first.

"Concordo, Marcus is correct," I told Caius, as firmly as I could without sounding as though I were scolding a child.

**---**

Subira's POV

Patience was not one of my many strengths and what little I possessed was fast running out. Hearing approaching footsteps, I snapped my head to the left and stood ready to attack anyone who came through my hotel door if it were necessary. It was not, Yejide walked through my door, and I relaxed.

"You're going to wear a path into the carpet if you don't stop pacing," she half jokingly, half seriously warned me.

"It's already ugly, couldn't possibly make it worse." I shrugged.

"Well, it's certainly not beautiful, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it ugly," she mused, whilst drinking in the finer details of the carpet.

"Yes, it is," I countered, "and if you've started to think it otherwise, we really have been here too long."

"About that," Yejide started to say something.

"Onyeka has returned?" I asked excitedly. "We're finally going to kill them?"

"Yes, we are going to finally do what we set out to," Yejide assured me. "The end of the Volturi is nigh."

"Well, not _that_ nigh," Euthalia informed us, as she drifted into my hotel room.

"That doesn't even make sense," I complained.

"It's contemporary," she defended herself with a sniff.

"What modern human would use the word 'nigh'?" I challenged, raising my eyebrow to emphasise my challenge.

"They wouldn't," Euthalia conceded. "But, they would repeat the word to parrot an answer."

"I honestly don't care either way," snapped Yejide. "Why is the Volturi's destruction being delayed, again?"

"Because... what do human children do nowadays?" Euthalia mused to herself, as she attempted to recall the modern terminology that she was so attached to. "A fieldtrip. The entire Volturi guard is going on a fieldtrip; even the wives."

"What? They're all leaving Volterra?" Yejide asked incredulously and I was inclined to agree. Since the Volturi had taken up residence within their stone citadel, they hadn't ventured from the safety of its walls. What would lure them out?

"Yes."

"Makes them easier to kill," I said, already having lost interest in the how's and why's.

A few short hours later, the seven of us were ghosting after the Volturi. Today was one of those times when I was thankful that we had invested in a private jet; it made shadowing the Volturi that much easier. Although, surely it was more than a little suspicious that another private plane was flying to the United States at the same time as the Volturi. It didn't appear to bother the Volturi, not that you could tell either way; we were all seated on our respective planes.

Before we had departed, we had discussed the Volturi's fate. This was their last chance. Onyeka had discerned that the whole guard was travelling to trial and judge a North American coven. If they handled the trial fairly and justice was served, then they would buy themselves a reprieve from their sentence. However, if their deplorable behaviour continued, we would intervene and end the reign of the Volturi.

I sighed in frustration. We should have killed the Volturi long ago. First, politics had gotten in the way, and now, simple curiosity was delaying it further. Resting my head against my seat, I closed my eyes and relived hazy memories from a simpler time. A time when you either killed or were killed, a time before politics had been invented. That was my time, the time where I belonged; I didn't belong here. It wasn't natural, but my instincts to survive were strong and my fighting skills were the stuff of legends, or at least they would be; no one knew my name anymore. That wasn't right. Perhaps, after we had destroyed the Volturi once and for all, this coven that was being put on trial could spread the word about me once more? I smiled, recalling the millennia where vampires would tremble at the mere mention of my name. I had always been a powerful fighter, as strong as any man; even before I became a vampire. Coupling her already unusual strength, heightened by her rebirth as a vampire, with her other vampiric traits and her formidable ability, she was a truly terrifying vampire.

* * *

**A/N:** Leave me a review; it will make _the others_ intervene faster.

19-October-2009  
01-December-2009 -- beta'd

**Italian used in the chapter** (probably/possibly incorrectly)  
Bene ------------------- good  
Bravo! ----------------- well done!  
Compassionevole --- compassionate  
Concordo ------------- I agree  
E ----------------------- and  
Figlio ------------------- son  
Forse ------------------ perhaps  
Grazie ----------------- thank you  
Perciό ------------------ so (however)


	19. 18 x Assembling the Cavalry

Disclaimer – The original idea for Twilight is not mine, but a lot of this story is.

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**Translations:** (standard online translator disclaimer applies :) )**  
**

Aquele parece perigoso --- he looks dangerous

Você diz português? --- do you speak Portuguese?

Um pouco, mas não bem --- a little, but not well

* * *

**Previously…**

"Jumping to conclusions?" Caius spat. "I have been warning you about Carlisle for the better part of a century, ever since he started converting others to his ridiculous _lifestyle_. That he could delude other vampires into abstaining from their natural food source was and still is a testament to just how powerful and _dangerous_ he has become. Add to that the sheer size of his coven, brother! It is simply unnatural for so many vampires to exist together, but seven is just astounding."

**Chapter eighteen: Assembling the Cavalry**

Alice's POV

_The wind whipped through Jasper's hair in a mesmerising fashion, but I tore my eyes away from my mate and focused on the scene in front of me. A host of robed vampires stood confronting my family, flanking three vampires clad in black – the Volturi. With my family stood many other vampires, our friends, come to support us. Aro stepped forward from his brothers and gestured towards Edward._

"_You have a choice," he said. "Join us or your family will perish."_

_I watched in horror as my brother refused to join the Volturi, knowing that he would have conceded in an instant if he thought Aro would keep his word. A sinister, but grim smile spread across Aro's lips in answer to Edward's defiance. Then four hulking vampires, in response to a near invisible signal from Aro, bore down on Edward; the number and size of the vampires suggesting that Aro still entertained hopes that Edward could be overpowered and forced to join the guard. As the four vampires descended on Edward, Aro turned his greedy eyes on me._

"What did you see?" asked Jasper, petrified. "You were in a trance for much longer than usual."

That I had been locked in a trance for longer than usual didn't surprise me; this was a detailed vision. Before I answered Jasper, I replayed the vision in my mind, searching for any important information that I may have missed.

"I saw the Volturi confronting us," I finally answered Jasper, his eyes widening a little in both fear and surprise.

"Were you able to see why they were confronting us?" Carlisle questioned calmly.

"No. All I saw was Aro, Caius and Marcus standing out in front of a large contingent of the guard, possibly all of the guard; the wives were with them. We were not alone though, the Denalis and others of our friends were standing beside us."

"But the wives never leave Volterra," commented Edward in disbelief. For once, he didn't instantly know what was going on, having just arrived back from a hunting trip with Emmett. Catching his eye, I replayed the vision in my mind for him to see.

"If we are innocent, a show of support may work in our favour, or it might be construed as confrontational," Jasper mused.

"Did you see anything that may indicate the outcome?" Carlisle asked, still trying to make sure that we had all of the facts before we started to make plans.

"Not really, I saw Aro give Edward an ultimatum," I replied, throwing an apologetic look towards Edward; only he and I knew that the ultimatum was coupled with a threat against the family if he failed to comply. "He told Edward, that if he joined the Volturi, the rest of us would be left alone."

"What did Edward say? Did you see that much?" Esme asked, becoming even more concerned now that there was a chance that not only would the family be destroyed by the Volturi, but that Edward might be taken as well.

"Edward refused."

"I what?" Edward snapped.

"You said no, Edward." I was surprised that I had to repeat myself; he had after all seen the vision now, but perhaps he didn't pay attention to the end?

"Remember, you would be listening to Aro's thoughts at the same time. I believe you would have a reason for refusing him. I know you would happily sacrifice yourself for the rest of the family," Esme tried to soothe Edward, while Jasper attempted to calm him.

Slowly, Edward's fists unclenched and the family was able to refocus on my vision.

"What happened after Edward refused?" asked Rosalie. She and Emmett had been quiet up until this point, although Emmett was having a hard time controlling his anger.

"Aro smiled, it was really creepy." I shuddered, remembering his twisted smile. "Then four huge vampires lunged at Edward. I don't think Aro plans to leave without him."

"When?" Esme asked, totally defeated.

"I couldn't tell exactly, but the leaves were starting to change colour, so soon," I told her. I hated not having the ability to be more accurate. As useful as my visions were at times, sometimes, they were useless.

Because there were a few weeks, at least, before the leaves started to change colour, signalling the onset of the fall, we decided not to rush foolishly into action without first thinking through the consequences. So, while maintaining our usual routine of work and school, we discussed the vision, what could have triggered it, and the possible outcome of any confrontation every chance we had.

"We haven't done anything wrong!" Rosalie cried in frustration.

I had already had a vision of the Volturi travelling to Forks, but that vision hadn't come to fruition. This convinced Jasper and Edward that the visit wasn't a spur of the moment thing, their hypothesis supported by the sheer size of the contingent of guard and the fact that the wives accompanied the brothers. Someone within the Volturi held a grudge against our family; why else would it take so long for them to respond to the newborn army in Seattle?

"Emmett, attacking the Volturi will achieve nothing," Esme reasoned.

Replaying the vision in my mind, for what seemed like the thousandth time, I had an epiphany. There was greed in Aro's eyes. Yes, someone within the Volturi held a grudge against our family and wished us harm, but Aro was coming in search of power. When I repeated my suspicions to my family, the reactions covered every spectrum of shock imaginable, from denial to disbelief. Eventually, we decided to seek outside council and talk to our long time friend, Eleazar.

Before Eleazar and his mate, Carmen, had joined Tanya and her sisters, even before Eleazar had found Carmen, Eleazar had been a member of the Volturi guard. His ability to sense gifts in other vampires and powerful gifts lying dormant in some humans rendered him invaluable. Whenever the Volturi faced another coven, Eleazar would get a read on the coven's gifts, allowing the Volturi guard to plan their attack accordingly, neutralising any potentially dangerous gifts or avoiding them entirely. Also, when humans came to the Volturi asking to be made into vampires, Aro would have Eleazar _read_ the humans to discern whether they had any potential gifts.

"I spent a decades with them, I can't imagine that they would betray us like this," Carlisle murmured, shaking his head. Pulling out his cell phone, Carlisle quickly dialled the Denali's home; Tanya answered on the third ring. "Tanya, it's Carlisle."

"Carlisle!"

"Is Eleazar there?" Carlisle quickly cut Tanya off, knowing her. Given the opportunity, she would have said much more.

A moment later, we heard Eleazar's voice on the line. Not wasting any time with pleasantries, since we still didn't know exactly when the Volturi would be arriving. Carlisle quickly filled Eleazar in on our situation.

"Is there any precedent for this in the guard?" Carlisle asked, his anxiety uncharacteristically showing through in his voice.

There was a pause before we heard Eleazar take a deep breath and begin his story in a hushed tone. The quietness of his voice made it difficult for the rest of us to hear, even with our superior hearing, so Carlisle put his cell on speaker.

"When a coven broke the law or was deemed too large or dangerous, the guard would be dispatched to destroy the whole coven," Eleazar began. "However, as the years passed, Aro would often read the thoughts of a coven member and deem them to be repentant, offering the vampire a place within the Volturi; those vampires always gratefully accepted. Over the years, I began to notice a pattern. The vampires offered pardons and amnesties were always gifted, always the ones that Aro coveted."

"You're quite certain?" Esme asked weakly.

"Without a doubt," Eleazar replied earnestly. "For some time, Aro has been on a power binge, expanding the size of the guard through the addition of gifted vampires. Really, it's a surprise that he has allowed both of our families to become as large as they have."

The conversation with Eleazar had been an eye opener, especially for Jasper. These troubling revelations confirmed something for us – we were in trouble. Without us even having to ask, Carmen, Eleazar, Tanya and her sisters promised us that they would be in Forks within hours. They were also making the same connections and drawing the same conclusions as us; Aro wanted Edward, Jasper, and I to join his guard and the whole family was in danger.

The whole family was perpetually in a state of worry and the imminent arrival of the Denalis did little, if anything, to allay our fears. While we appreciated our friends' loyalty, we did not want them risking themselves when we couldn't see a way out of our predicament. From Carlisle's own experiences, we knew that when Aro wanted something, he got it.

I was running scenario after scenario and little in my visions changed. First, it was just our family that faced the Volturi and my vision played out exactly as the first had, except, instead of being surrounded by friends, our family was alone as the four vampires lunged at Edward. Testing another alternative, I watched the vision unfold with the Denalis standing alongside our family. Again, four vampires made a move to subdue Edward. Finally, I conceded to the parameters of the original vision: our family surrounded by our friends and allies as four vampires pounced on a defiant Edward. I could never see beyond the four vampires attacking Edward and the futility of our situation combined with the utter lack of options made us capitulate. We were on the path shown to us before we had consciously made the decision; we would try and contact our friends and allies to stand beside us.

When the Denalis arrived, we further discussed our options and the likely motives of the Volturi and in particular, Aro. Because we couldn't think of a single vampire law that our family had broken, we all agreed that the most likely reason for the visit was Aro's greed. Edward, Jasper and my own gifts would be a grand trophy to Aro. Eleazar didn't think he would stop at anything to acquire us and he didn't put bargaining for our family members' wellbeing beyond Aro. Needless to say, Carlisle was appalled and saddened to hear this analysis of his old friend, although Edward confided to me later that deep down, Carlisle wasn't really surprised. Our treaty with the pack was another possible catalyst for the Volturi's visit, but we quickly ruled it out as a possibility. How could the Volturi have learned of its existence? The wolves were long gone before Jane arrived and even if they crossed the wolves' scent, they wouldn't have been able to identify it because the Quileute pack was made up of shape shifters and not werewolves; they smelled differently.

We also related the different scenarios I had witnessed play out in my visions and Jasper relayed his concerns in regards to assembling more vampires to stand beside us. Eleazar agreed that standing with friends would appear confrontational and Aro would call us out on it, but he also made the valid point that a show of numbers and support may make Aro reconsider his position. If he hesitated, we had a chance.

"We're all in agreement then?" Carlisle asked us.

"Yes," we all answered in unison.

---

Jasper and I stepped off our flight at the airport in Rio de Janeiro, tasked with locating some of Carlisle's friends who resided in the Amazon. We were searching for three female vampires: Zafrina, Kachiri and Senna. Neither Jasper nor I had ever met them, but Jasper had perked up when Edward described Zafrina's gift to us. Zafrina was able to create illusions. She was the de facto leader of the coven and was responsible for protecting her sisters.

The task of tracking the three vampires was difficult. Although I frequently saw them in my visions now that Jasper and I were searching for them, I never saw any landmarks that we could use to narrow down their location. Eventually, we caught up with them when they headed towards a town to hunt. We wavered briefly over the best way to approach the vampires, especially since we were strangers. We could only hope that our affiliation with Carlisle would help us to convince them to at least talk with us. A quick vision showed me that the best outcome would be achieved if we revealed ourselves right away. That was how Jasper and I proceeded, even though Jasper had initially wanted to allow the vampires to hunt first and not disrupt their feeding; vampires could of course become quite territorial.

"Aquele parece perigoso," whispered one of the three vampires.

"Você diz português?" another asked us.

"Um pouco, mas não bem," Jasper told them.

"English then?" she asked with a thick, exotic accent.

"That would be most appreciated," Jasper tried some of his Southern charm on the three vampires.

"I am Zafrina and these are Kachiri and Senna," she introduced herself and motioned to the two vampires standing beside her.

"My name is Alice and this is my husband, Jasper," I reciprocated by introducing us.

"What causes you to trespass in our territory?" Zafrina dispensed with her cordiality as she got down to business.

"We've come to ask for your help. Carlisle told us where to find you."

My forthright answer to Zafrina's question was making Jasper edgy. Few other than me would pick up on his emotions because he was being careful not to broadcast anything, but I knew him too well. Jasper had had an almost absolute faith in my visions, ever since the day we met, but that didn't stop some of my decisions from making him anxious; even if he knew I always had my reasons.

"You know Carlisle!" Zafrina exclaimed. "Of course you do, that explains your eyes."

Convincing Zafrina and her coven to help us was a lot easier than Jasper and I had anticipated. Apparently, rumours of Aro's power seeking behaviour that had shocked Carlisle so much had spread far and wide, delivered to the ears of the Amazon coven in the form of gossip from nomad vampires passing through their territory.

When we had crossed back into the United States, we left the Amazonian coven to travel onto Forks by themselves while Jasper and I began the search for the nomads who roamed the continent. It didn't take long for us to locate Jasper's old friend, Peter, and his mate, Charlotte. Both were tired of fighting because of their time in the South, but Charlotte's fierce sense of right and wrong drove her to convince Peter to help us. They had also heard rumours of the Volturi overstepping the bounds of their mandate as keepers of the peace. Before Jasper and I headed home, we tracked down the nomads Garret, Randall and Mary; they also agreed to stand beside us, especially if the Volturi had no grounds to attack us.

While we were searching for vampires near home, the rest of the family had also gone to other parts of the world, searching out support from others of Carlisle's friends. Emmett and Rosalie were in the Middle East looking up a coven that resided in Egypt and Carlisle and Esme were in Europe seeking out friends that lived in Ireland and a skittish nomad whom Carlisle knew to reside in England.

---

The Forks house was full to overflowing when we arrived home. Rosalie and Emmett had secured the help of the Egyptian coven and had returned home with Amun, Kebi, Benjamin and Tia. Jasper and Edward were particularly excited that those vampires had agreed to help us because Benjamin had a very rare and powerful ability. Benjamin was able to manipulate earth, air, water, and fire. For a vampire, possessing an ability to physically manipulate objects was very rare; the majority of our gifts affected the mind. Carlisle and Esme had also been successful; the Irish coven of Siobhan, Liam and Molly, as well as Charles had accompanied them back to Forks. There were now a total of twenty seven vampires staying at our home.

Over the next week or so, I received more visions of the confrontation with the Volturi. We'd all been couped up in the same place for almost a week now and everyone was wearing on each others' nerves. When the crucial vision finally came, it was a relief to everyone.

"What did you see, Alice?" Edward asked, edgy as ever.

"It's the same as before," I sighed in frustration. "I still can't _see_ what the final outcome will be, but I think I have enough information to work out when the Volturi will arrive."

"That's a start," breathed Esme.

"What did you see?" Jasper repeated Edward's earlier question.

"There was a light cover of snow on the ground and it looked like there was more on the way," I started to describe my latest vision.

"Weather," scoffed Amun. "We're relying on the weather to know when the Volturi will be arriving. How will this help us? All it does is rain here."

"Actually, it wasn't raining in my vision and it clearly hadn't for a few days, the weather will be very helpful in working out when the Volturi will arrive," I corrected Amun.

Judging by the weather in my visions, and the satellite imagery that Jasper pulled up off the internet, the Volturi would be here in about nine days. Thankfully, now that I'd been able to pin down a more definite timeline, the vampires who weren't vegetarians set off for some last minute hunting before we faced the Volturi. Carlisle had asked them to put some miles between themselves and Forks before they did any hunting. Their presence was already a point of contention with the La Push pack, but our whole family was very impressed with how understanding the pack was; our relationship with the pack had improved considerably since the battle with the newborns. It really was a pity that none of us might survive the encounter with the Volturi to reap the benefits of that newfound trust.

Aside from arguing over the televisions, the main topic of conversation for us and our friends was strategy. In this regard Jasper naturally took charge. It was an unspoken thing and he just ended up being our commander in chief. He had divided everyone up into groups. The gifted vampires were Edward, Jasper, Kate, Benjamin, Zafrina, Eleazar, Molly, Siobhan, Charles, and I. Of the gifted vampires Molly, Siobhan and Charles weren't really fighters, although Molly and Siobhan would both do a lot of damage, and Jasper, of course, wanted to include me in that group. Of the non-gifted vampires the _pacifists, _or those who weren't and good in a fight, were Esme, Carlisle, Tia, Carmen, Irina, and Mary. The rest were experienced fighters.

After much arguing, Jasper decided to put our stronger fighters in front, with the weaker fighters behind, although, Benjamin and Zafrina would also be placed at the back so they could be protected and allowed to use their gifts offensively. It was a good plan, although we all hoped that the meeting would not degenerate into fighting, with Carlisle especially hoping for a peaceful resolution. Zafrina would use her gift to blind Jane and Alec, and as many others of the guard as she could, in theory, making them easy targets to pick off. Benjamin would use his gift to create distractions and hopefully give our side the advantage in one-on-one fights. There was even talk of calling the wolves and asking them to help us, but since Aro didn't know about them and Caius was so averse to the Children of the Moon, we decided that it would place them in too much danger. Besides, it was not their fight.

Two days before the Volturi were scheduled to arrive, there was an unexpected knock on the door. Carlisle answered and we could tell that he was shocked to see the individual who had knocked on our door.

"Carlisle, it has been a long time," two voices spoke in unison.

"Stefan, Vladimir," Carlisle greeted them. "To what do my family and I owe the pleasure?"

"We have heard rumours that you have formed an army to take on the Volturi," Stefan begun the sentence and Vladimir finished it, or perhaps the other way around.

"I assure you that we do not plan to fight, these are merely friends who are kind enough to give witness to the Volturi and support our argument that my family have not broken any laws."

"Of course," murmured the two vampires. "You do not mind if we stay, just in case?"

"No, please come in," Carlisle told them, although he clearly wasn't that pleased.

Two ancient vampires glided into our foyer, two pairs of dark eyes raking over the vampires who had all gathered to see who had knocked on the door. They were delighted and quickly began talking excitedly between themselves when they spied, through the rear glass wall, Benjamin experimenting with his gift in the river running behind the house.

"Now is the time," they spoke in whispered unison. Everyone could see the glimmer of excitement in their eyes as they watched Benjamin create patterns and rainbows from the droplets of water he was manipulating in mid-air above the river.

"Stefan? Vladimir?" Carlisle tried to get their attention, but the two Romanian vampires paid him no mind.

"It was a good idea to come," muttered one of the Romanians. I still couldn't tell which was Stefan and which was Vladimir.

"This will be our best chance," the other muttered in reply.

* * *

**A/N:** Whoops this one too a while to get beta'd. My fault though, a bit of writers block on the rewrites; took me a long while to get the added dialogue right!

03-November-2009  
28-February-2010 -- beta'd


	20. 19 x A Midsummer Night's Dream

Disclaimer – Twilight so isn't mine, it belongs to SM.**

* * *

**

**Previously…**

_I watched in horror as my brother refused to join the Volturi, knowing that he would have conceded in an instant if he thought Aro would keep his word. A sinister, but grim, smile spread across Aro's lips in answer to Edward's defiance. Then four hulking vampires, in response to a near invisible signal from Aro, bore down on Edward; the number and size of the vampires suggesting that Aro still entertained hopes that Edward could be overpowered and forced to join the guard. As the four vampires descended on Edward, Aro turned his greedy eyes on me._

"What did you see?" asked Jasper, he was petrified. "You were in a trance for much longer than usual."

**Chapter nineteen: A Midsummer Night's Dream**

Edward's POV

The day that Alice had foreseen in her visions arrived all too quickly. While it was never pleasant to step forward and face what could quite possibly be the deliverance of your death, on some level it was a relief to know that after today we wouldn't have to share our home with over twenty other vampires. Even when taking into consideration the simple truth that our reprieve may come only with our deaths.

Attending high school was a special kind of hell for me, with the cacophony of pubescent thoughts, but at present our home was even worse. The past fortnight had been especially difficult, as I existed in a constant swirl of foreign consciousnesses. While a human mind could focus on but a few things at a time, vampire minds seemed to be comprised of an endless open expanse that could host an infinite number of contemplations simultaneously.

The hour of our reckoning drew closer and my family and I, as well as our friends and allies, assembled in the baseball clearing ready to face the Volturi. The atmosphere was palpable, a bewildering mixture of hope and despair that served no purpose other than to drain us emotionally. A vindictive thought briefly skittered through the periphery of my thoughts, as I imagined how difficult the emotions would be for Jasper to endure; surely almost as bad as the eddy of thoughts that I was subject to.

Positioned in the loose formation that Jasper had devised, we were carefully arranged to afford us every possible tactical advantage, yet haphazard enough for us to appear unprepared and disorganised. There was order to our chaos, but we paled into insignificance when compared to the Volturi's rhythmic and regimented movements. A throng of difference shades of grey emerged from the tree line, moving to a soundless beat as they approached. When they were almost upon us, a ripple ran through their company and in practiced movements the front of the procession slid away, opening out to reveal the darkest greys and the deep charcoals. The movement was ominous and beautiful at the same time; similar to a flower, we were witness to the Volturi's greyscale blossoming.

Standing before the fully assembled guard, I listened to the thoughts of those around me. My companions' thoughts were a mixture of fear and resolute determination and I was thankful that my family did not have to stand alone. The Volturi's thoughts were something that I had never encountered before, some were apathetic while others were excited and filled with bloodlust at the prospect of a fight. A few minds were focus on almost soley me: capture but don't kill. Unbeknownst to Carlisle I had already been invited to join Aro's guard and I had been expecting my third and more forceful invitation to come much sooner than this.

"Aro, old friend, it has been too long," Carlisle greeted Aro.

"Yes, it has," agreed Aro. "I only wish that we were meeting under better circumstances. Why am I being confronted by a small army?" Aro asked, still quite cordial in his address.

"They are witnesses, just as you have brought," Carlisle replied gesturing to the large group of vampires who had entered the clearing after the Volturi and were now gathered behind them.

"Bene," Aro signalled the end of the pleasantries. "Perhaps we should get down to business, no? Surely, Carlisle, you know why we are come?"

"Actually, my family and I are at a loss to explain your visit."

Aro retreated a few paces as Caius stalked forward. This entire engagement had been carefully planned out in advance by Aro, although he was carefully guarding his thoughts, ensuring that I would not be able to predict his next move.

"You and your _family_ are a danger to us all," Caius spat.

Carlisle didn't respond, he merely waited patiently for Caius to actually lay some charges before us. While he regarded Caius with the same tolerance that a parent does a tantrum throwing toddler, his mind ran through memories of Caius from his time in Volterra. Caius was quick to anger and extremely superstitious.

"Your coven has spent the last century flirting with disaster. We have only one rule and that is the pledge to secrecy; a law to protect us all. The way your coven exists puts us all at risk; your close association with humans threatens us with exposure. We have borne witness to close calls in the past, times when you were almost discovered, and undoubtedly there have been even more that escaped even our notice.

"But, it is not enough that you threaten us all with exposure; you choose to live an abomination of an existence, living amongst our prey and stooping so low as to sustain yourselves on animals. When you resided with us in Italy, we allowed you this indulgence –the disturbed vampire that shied away from his food – but you have converted others and this will not be allowed to stand. Over the last century your coven has grown to epic proportions, each new member adopting or converting to your perverse diet.

"Seven, is an abnormally large number of members for a coven, but you are not content to stop there. When your seer saw us coming you recruited other vampires in an attempt to ensure your victory. Know this however, you cannot overthrow the Volturi, we have the goodwill of all the world's vampires; we keep order and we protect the secret that is our existence.

"As grave as the aforementioned charges are, they pale into insignificance when placed beside the final charge. Carlisle, you have betrayed us all by consorting with the Children of the Moon. I see the surprise that flitted across your face at the very mention of their name. Did you think that we did not know? Did you think that we would not find out? When our guard was dispatched to deal with a disturbance in the area, we discovered your coven victorious over an army of some twenty newborns aided by the Children of the Moon."

Before anyone could respond to the charges, the wind shifted and I caught a scent that tugged at my memory. I dove into my mind to place the scent…

---

It had been several years since that fateful discussion with Carlisle; the one that had left me alone in a large city hunting humans. For so long I had had trouble reconciling the idea that we shouldn't feed from humans and it was made all the more difficult when I listened to Carlisle's thoughts; he was so sincere and resolute in his beliefs. Really, Carlisle's sincerity was what had delayed my foray into my baser instincts by a good decade, that and the simple fact that I had no desire to disappoint my second father.

My departure from my family had been precipitated from a particularly heated discussion between Carlisle and myself about the existence of the vampire soul. I am convinced that we don't have one, Carlisle absolutely certain that we do. Still I cannot comprehend why a God, if such a being exists, would wish to create creatures like us. A monumental mistake is the only plausible explanation that I can come up with; but divine beings cannot make mistakes can they? It poses a perplexing quandary. Even more confounding, why would He gift us with souls. No, we _are_ monsters and are not in possession of souls. As I have no soul, and therefore probably no conscience either, I could foresee no problems converting my diet to humans. Using my gift I could further lessen any remorse I might feel in extinguishing these lives by only taking those who were not fit to live.

During this time apart from my family I discovered that I am not immune from the effects of a conscience and had also stumbled into the notice of the Volturi. Naturally, Aro was interested in my gift and had tried, in vain to convince me to join his guard. On that point my heart is true as steel, I want no part of his guard. Despite Carlisle's fond memories of his time in Volterra and his old friend Aro, during my years away from him I have heard rumours from the nomadic vampires I run across that make me wary of their motives. I expect my membership in their guard to be requested again in the very near future.

The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve as I stood concealed in a dark alleyway listening for my night's meal. While I listened I breathed in lungfuls of the most delicious scent I had ever come across. It was sweet like honey and caramel with an undercurrent of something pungent that gave me a surge of energy every time I breathed it in - coffee, powerful, yet subtle at the same time. Before I could give it much more thought the wind shifted, no longer wafting the delectable scent in my direction. I caught the terrified thoughts of a woman before I could rue its loss and straightening my head from its cocked position I took off after my midnight snack.

_Over hill, over dale,  
Thorough bush, thorough briar._

It took mere moments for me to arrive at the scene that contained my meal. The run was however, as always, immensely enjoyable. Something about the freedom of running always appealed to me, the speed was invigorating. It also gave me a sense of power because I knew that I was faster than most others of my kind even if I was not always as physically strong. Running in a city was surprisingly similar to running through woodland, gone were the trees but they were replaced by haphazard trashcans, rats and other trash littered throughout the streets. While none of these things would pose much of an obstacle to my monstrous body, any collision would create quite a commotion. Instinctively my mind plotted a course through these objects without any conscious effort on my part; satisfying the natural impulse to remain hidden.

_Over park, over pale,  
Thorough flood, thorough fire,_

An unkempt and _very_ drunk man, probably in his forties, had his latest victim pinned roughly against a wall. I knew this woman was simply one of many by listening to his thoughts. Brown hair, black hair; long hair, short hair, but always long slender legs; he insisted upon that.

_I do wander everywhere,  
Swifter than the moon's sphere._

In a blur of speed I had prised the man away from the young woman. As my body moved past her I turned and whispered in her ear, "Run, save yourself." All of this occurred at a speed far too great for the humans to process what was happening or what was about to happen. I suppressed a dark chuckle as I listened to the woman's garbled thoughts.

'_No… get off… what?.. where?.. run..'_

Her thoughts still hadn't regained any coherency as she picked herself up and ran down the street in the direction of a friend's house. Letting the disgusting excuse for a man be for a moment I paused to watch the woman retreat to a safe distance and round the corner before I refocused my attentions on him. I still desired to be a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day; my problem was that I couldn't reconcile how that could ever be when I was this despicable monster. Saving the woman was all the penance my deplorable nature could offer up.

Savouring the moment I slowly crouched and then sprang at the man, pinning him to the alley wall. Now the tables were turned and I was the one with my preferred prey squirming as I pushed them roughly into the wall. Listening to the man's thoughts I expected to hear blind terror but instead had to force down another laugh.

'_Beautiful… like an angel…'_ thought the man.

"I am no angel," I answered the man's thought still barely suppressing a laugh.

'_An angel of death, a dark angel, yet still possessing an ethereal beauty.'_

'_Lord, what fools these mortals be!__'_ I thought to myself. This man appeared to be frightful religious for a common rapist and thief. And why pray, would an angel be sent to retrieve his sorry ass?

"No, not an angel of death, I am that that hides in the shadows waiting for the likes of you," I countered with a smirk, rolling my eyes as his heart rate quickened and he started to recite the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

'_Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.  
Monster!..'_

"Yes. I _am_ a monster," I agreed, amused that it had taken him so long to reach this conclusion. Idly I wondered whether concluding the prayer with monster rather than amen would affect the judgement when he met St. Peter. Probably not considering the disturbing list of acts he was attempting to repent for in his head. With this final thought I sunk my teeth into the man's jugular releasing a thick flow of his life's elixir.

When the euphoria of the fresh blood pouring down my throat finished leaving me feeling empty and hollow I allowed the man's body drop to the ground. Feelings of satisfaction; pleasure; delight; contentment; and gratification soon gave way to disgust; revulsion; abhorrence; self-loathing; hatred; and horror. Quickly regaining control I plastered the mask I wore in public across my face, the casual observer would no longer be able to read my emotions. Retrieving my knife I quickly slit the man's throat. I had done this hundreds of times before and it was now second nature to me; so much so that if this kill were in a secluded forest I would probably still slit his throat. This was a necessity for me. Because I chose to stay at length in the one city I had to mask my kills more carefully than other vampires. Unto this end I only hunted lowlifes – something that fit with my other priorities – and always in questionable neighbourhoods reducing the likelihood that anyone would look too closely at their deaths. As a further precaution I never fully drained my victims so that a little blood remained to escape the slit throat and for the autopsy. I had to hunt more often but it helped to ensure my secrecy.

Once satisfied that I had masked my kill sufficiently and that there was not a trace of my venom in the body I left quickly to return to my apartment. I felt uneasy, as though someone were following me so took a circuitous route home including a brisk walk through the local park. As I walked I noticed for the first time a heavy scent on the air that made me want to gag. In an attempt to distract myself from the foul odour I turned my gaze skywards to admire the stars and saw the true beginning of our end; represented by the plumes of purple-tinged smoke. Although I had never encountered this phenomenon before instinctively my body tensed against the potential threat, immediately recognising this for what it was; someone burning the remains of a vampire. The Volturi were here.

When I reached my apartment I threw the few irreplaceable possessions I owned into a bag as I tore through the place like a whirlwind. Scared, I was quite literally running home with my tail between my legs.

---

Returning to the present, Caius had said his peace and performed exactly as Aro had hoped that he would. Now, my family had to defend our lifestyle and as ludicrous as it was, protest that we did not seek to usurp the authority of the Volturi.

* * *

**A/N:** Soundtrack for Edward's kill: "House of Wolves" by My Chemical Romance. Also, sorry for the massive expanse of time between this chapter and the last, I've had exams to sit and had to sit down and make sure that all of my little snippets of plot and mystery and intrigue are going to come together properly in this chapter and the ones to come.

**Please leave me a review? *bats eyelashes unashamedly***

23-November-2009

Italian translations:  
Bene -- well


	21. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Yes I know, I hate them too, but I feel that after a four month absence anyone who has favourited this story needs to know that 1) I'm still alive, and 2) I haven't forgotten this story.

FAQs

I haven't started writing chapter 20 yet. Sorry.

Chapter 18 has now been beta'd. Pretty much the entire delay in the story was because I was having trouble with some added dialogue when rewriting this chapter. Plus November to January kind of imploded as far as RL is concerned.

Thanks for your patience, even though you don't have any other choice,

Donna  
ladeesarah001

* * *

**Looking for something else to read?**

[True Blood] The Story of How I Became A Vampire by ladeesarah001, 5393462 (Yes, I'm recommending my own story)  
[Southern Vampire Mysteries] Know Thyself by Konfetti, 4791743  
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The number at the end is the story ID number, you'll notice that it features prominently in the page URL on FanFiction. To check any of these stories out either search by Title or Author OR delete everything in the address bar after ...s/ and put the id number of the story you'd like to check out in.


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